Hamas slams Israel for evading new prisoner swap deal
Xinhua, October 19, 2016 Adjust font size:
A spokesman for Islamic Hamas movement accused Israel on Tuesday for evading a new prisoner swap deal with his movement.
"Israel evades from a new prisoner exchange deal and misleads its public opinion," Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, said in a short recorded statement aired on Hamas-run Al-Aqsa Television.
Hamas on Tuesday marked five years for reaching a prisoner swap deal with Israel. The deal was brokered by Egypt, a mediator to which Hamas handed an Israeli soldier captured in Gaza in 2006 for the release of 1,028 prisoners from Israeli jails.
"The Palestinian armed resistance (Hamas) will (have to) declare all the documents it has in its hands on a proper time," said Abu Obeida, adding "we tell the prisoners that Israel will sooner or later pay the price and release all the prisoners."
Israel is keeping in its jails, prisons and detentions around 7,000 Palestinians, all arrested and sentenced to various imprisonments terms over the past 20 years. Endit