Hamas announces 'willingness to engage in immediate prisoner and hostage exchange' after UN resolution on ceasefire in Gaza War
Hamas on Monday welcomed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the ongoing war with Israel sparked by the Palestinian terror group’s massive attack on the south, saying it was ready to release hostages it abducted during the devastating assault, international agencies report.
The Palestinian Authority and Turkey also praised the development at the UN.
The war in Gaza erupted with Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air, and sea, killing 1,200 people. Terrorists also seized 253 hostages, mostly civilians and of all ages. Israel responded with a military campaign to topple Hamas’s Gaza regime and free the hostages, some 130 of whom are still in captivity.
Hamas thanked the UN Security Council for its resolution and called for “a permanent ceasefire that leads to the withdrawal of all Zionist forces from the Gaza Strip, and the return of the displaced to the homes from which they left.”
The UNSC resolution also demanded the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas. In a statement posted online, the terror group said that it is willing “to engage in an immediate prisoner exchange process that leads to the release of prisoners on both sides,” a reference to Palestinian security prisoners held in Israeli jails that it is demanding as ransom for the hostages.
The Hamas statement added that a halt in fighting was needed to “bury our martyrs who have remained under the rubble for months” and for access to “humanitarian needs.”
“Hamas calls on the Security Council to pressure the occupation to adhere to the ceasefire and stop the war of genocide and ethnic cleansing against our people,” the statement said, while also calling for Palestinian statehood.
