According to a report by The Jerusalem Post, Hamas has warned that Israel will not recover any hostages—dead or alive—if the Israeli military continues its ground offensive in Gaza City. The militant group issued the threat on Thursday as Israeli forces pushed deeper into the city amid escalating battles.
In a statement cited by CNN, Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, said: “Your prisoners are distributed within the neighborhoods of Gaza City, and we will not be concerned for their lives as long as Netanyahu has decided to kill them.” The group claimed that Israel’s decision to intensify its operations put the captives’ lives at risk.
The statement further warned, “The commencement of this criminal operation and its expansion means that you will not receive any prisoner, neither alive nor dead, and their fate will be the same as that of (Ron Arad).” Hamas added another message shortly afterward, declaring: “Gaza will be a graveyard for your soldiers.”
The reference to Ron Arad invoked the case of the Israeli Air Force officer who was captured by Lebanese militants in 1986. Despite Israeli efforts to secure his release, Arad remained in captivity and was never recovered. Israel officially concluded in 2016 that he had died in 1988, based on sparse and inconclusive evidence. By invoking Arad’s fate, Hamas signaled that the hostages currently held in Gaza could also disappear without a trace.
Earlier on Thursday, Bassem Naim, a senior figure in Hamas’s political bureau, appeared on Qatari television for the first time since surviving an Israeli strike in Doha. Speaking to Al Araby, Naim warned that Israeli forces advancing into Gaza City would encounter fierce resistance.
“The operation in Gaza City will be met with fierce resistance,” he said. “The death and destruction the enemy is trying to bring to Gaza’s streets will also come upon its soldiers.”
The threats come as the Israeli Defense Forces intensify their ground operations in Gaza City, a campaign aimed at dismantling Hamas’s military infrastructure and pressuring the group to release hostages taken during the October 7 attack. Israel has faced international calls to prioritize hostage recovery in any military strategy, but Hamas’s latest statements suggest that the captives could be used as leverage—or potentially eliminated—if the offensive continues.
Hamas’s warnings underscore the high stakes of the battle for Gaza City, where fighting has already devastated neighborhoods and left civilians trapped amid the clashes. See, More, Here>>>>
The group’s remarks suggest that Israel’s military gains could come at the cost of the remaining hostages’ lives, further complicating efforts to secure their return.
