Hamas senior official Bassem Naim, one of the targets of Israel’s attempted strike on top leaders in Doha, threatened Thursday that the IDF’s operation to take over Gaza City runs the risk of harming the hostages still held captive by the terror group.
“The operation in Gaza City will be met with fierce resistance, and the death and destruction that the enemy tries to bring to Gaza’s streets will befall its soldiers,” the Hamas politburo member said in an interview with the Qatari outlet Al-Araby, in his first appearance since being targeted in the September 9 strike.
“Those who harm us during the operation in Gaza City will also harm the hostages, living and dead,” he warned.
Naim was targeted alongside other Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital last week, as the terror group’s brass was said to be meeting to discuss a US-sponsored hostage-ceasefire proposal.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lauded the strike as a success at the time, saying it could open the door for an immediate end to the war. Hamas called the strike a failure. No senior members of the terror group were confirmed killed in the attack, and Israeli officials increasingly believe it failed to eliminate any senior member of the group.
Naim further accused Israel of feigning interest in a hostage deal, saying “it misled everyone as if it was involved in negotiations, in order to cover up its crimes.”
Relatives of hostages have railed against the IDF’s ground operation to take over Gaza City, warning an incursion into the city could lead to more hostages’ deaths. There are 48 hostages held by terror groups in Gaza, of which some 20 are thought to still be alive.
Since the operation began overnight Monday, several hostages’ families have staged nightly protests outside Netanyahu’s Jerusalem residence, accusing him of abandoning their loved ones.
Naim’s remarks echoed a statement by Hamas’s military wing issued Thursday, which included similar threats regarding the harm that may come to the hostages should the IDF’s operation continue.
“Your hostages are dispersed within neighborhoods in Gaza City and we won’t be obligated to safeguard their lives so long as Netanyahu has resolved to kill them,” read the statement. “The beginning of this criminal operation and its expansion means that you will not retrieve any hostage, living or dead.”
“The fate of all the hostages will be like the fate of Ron Arad,” the military wing continued, referring to the missing Israeli airman who disappeared in southern Lebanon in 1986 and is presumed dead.