The photo included 47 Israeli prisoners and was captioned in Arabic and Hebrew: "Because of the intransigence of (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and the submission of (Chief of Staff Eyal) Zamir: A farewell photo at the start of the operation in Gaza City."
When numbering the Israeli captives, the Qassam Brigades wrote "Ron Arad" with each number, a reference to the Israeli pilot who went missing in southern Lebanon in 1986. Hebrew media reports suggest that the Lebanese Amal Movement captured him and handed him over to Hezbollah during the years of conflict with Israel between 1985 and 2000.
But in 2006, former Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated by Israel, denied any knowledge of Arad's fate, saying in a televised interview that he believed he was "dead and lost."
On Thursday, the Qassam Brigades warned that it would not spare the lives of Israeli prisoners in Gaza City as long as Netanyahu decided to kill them by occupying the city and displacing Palestinians from it.
"Your prisoners are distributed throughout Gaza City's neighborhoods, and we will not care about their lives as long as Netanyahu decides to kill them," Qassam said in a statement.
Editor's Picks
Amid escalating international isolation, UEFA considers excluding Israel from European qualifiers
Dozens killed in Gaza, including aid recipients, as Israeli starvation death toll rises to 440
Portugal announces its recognition of the State of Palestine on Sunday, and Macron informs Abbas of his intention to formally recognize the State of Palestine on Monday.
Canada bans Irish band Nikaab from entering the country for opposing the genocide against Palestinians.
She added, warning the Israelis that the army's initiation of "this criminal operation and its expansion (in Gaza City) means that you will not get a single prisoner, neither alive nor dead, and their fate will all be like that of Ron Arad."
On August 11, the Israeli occupation army launched an attack on Gaza City, starting from the Zeitoun neighborhood (southeast), in an operation later dubbed "Gideon Vehicles 2." The attack included the demolition of homes using booby-trapped robots, artillery shelling, indiscriminate gunfire, and forced displacement.
On Tuesday, Zamir described the military operation in Gaza City as "important" for returning Israeli prisoners from the Strip, contradicting previous statements in which he warned of the danger escalation would pose to their lives.
Tel Aviv estimates that there are 48 Israeli prisoners in Gaza, 20 of whom are still alive. Meanwhile, approximately 11,100 Palestinians are languishing in its prisons, suffering from torture, starvation, and medical neglect. Several of them have died, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights and media reports.
With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving 65,174 martyrs and 166,071 wounded, most of them children and women, and a famine that has claimed the lives of 440 Palestinians, including 147 children.
