Hamas has released pictures of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza ahead of the IDF’s renewed military offensive in the highly populated Gaza City.
The group said they released the pictures to “inform the Israeli people that if any of the captives die in the ongoing military operations, it will be either by the Israeli air force or by the IDF ground forces.” Hamas has called it “a parting image” of the captives as it issued a new warning against Israel’s move.
Israeli forces on Saturday said that they were going to expand their operations aimed at capturing Gaza City in the north of the occupied enclave. While they said they had destroyed several Hamas infrastructure sites, including tunnel shafts and sniper posts.
On the other hand, Hamas also said that it killed several Israeli soldiers in an ambush in northern Gaza. Hamas released the image showing more than 40 hostages. Earlier, the group also warned in a statement that the captives are distributed within neighbourhoods of Gaza City.
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Gaza City is home to more than a million people. The people, according to the Israeli forces' recent statement, had fled the city ahead of the military operations. They have been pushed to the southern part of the occupied Gaza Strip. Local authorities in Gaza said nearly “270,000 citizens have been compelled to leave the city.”
The Israeli military said that those residents were forced out due to a shortage of necessities, including water, food and temporary housing.
Meanwhile, the authorities in Gaza say that the so-called safe areas are subject to Israeli attacks. They have condemned Israel while calling on the international community to take immediate and serious action to stop Israel's operations.
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