The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas says Israel will never obtain a single piece of information about the fate of its soldiers who were captured during the Israeli war on the besieged Gaza Strip in 2014 unless it pays a price.
Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said in a statement on Monday that “the Israeli army, with its technical and intelligence capabilities, had been desperately attempting since seven years [ago] to get information about the fate of its captive soldiers,” adding, “such information is impossible to get without paying specific prices,” the Palestinian Information Center reported.
On August 1, 2014, Israeli soldier Hadar Goldin was reported missing while others were either killed or injured after fighters from al-Qassam Brigades successfully foiled an infiltration attempt by an Israeli military unit in the southeastern part of Gaza.
At the end of the 2014 conflict, the Israeli regime announced the loss of the “bodies” of two soldiers in Gaza, namely Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin.
Hamas later disclosed pictures of four captured Israeli soldiers. In April 2016, the resistance movement announced that it had taken four Israeli soldiers captive while withholding their identities except for Shaul.
Hamas has insisted that Israel should release the Palestinian prisoners who were rearrested shortly after they were released during a prisoner exchange in 2011.
The 50-day Israeli war on Gaza lasted from July to late August 2014.
Gaza has been under Israeli siege since June 2007. The blockade has caused a decline in the standard of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty.