GAZA CITY: Hamas’s armed wing urged the Israeli military to temporarily halt air strikes and withdraw from part of Gaza City on Sunday as it tried to locate two Israeli hostages it said it had lost contact with.
“The lives of the two prisoners are in real danger, and (Israeli) forces must immediately withdraw to the south of Street 8 and halt aerial operations for 24 hours starting from 18:00 today to allow attempts to rescue the prisoners,” the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement.
In an earlier announcement, the armed group said the loss of contact was due to Israeli military operations over the previous 48 hours in two southern Gaza City neighborhoods where Israeli forces have stepped up air and ground assaults.
In the past, the Islamist movement announced that it had lost contact with an Israeli-American hostage, who was released a few days after that announcement.
Since launching its offensive on Gaza City, the Israeli military has repeatedly ordered Palestinians to move south.
On Sunday, Gaza’s civil defense agency, a rescue force operating under Hamas authority, said 38 people had been killed by Israeli fire, including 14 in Gaza City.
Hamas urges Israel to halt strikes as it searches for two hostages
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Hamas urges Israel to halt strikes as it searches for two hostages
- The armed group said the loss of contact was due to Israeli military operations in southern Gaza City
Syrian government says it controls prison in Raqqa with Daesh-linked detainees
- Prison holds detainees linked to Daesh, and witnessed clashes in its vicinity between advancing Syrian government forces and Kurdish fighters
Syria’s Interior Ministry said on Friday it had taken over Al-Aktan prison in the city of Raqqa in northeastern Syria, a facility that was formerly under the control of Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The prison has been holding detainees linked to the militant group Daesh, and witnessed clashes in its vicinity this week between advancing Syrian government forces and the SDF.
It was not immediately clear how many Daesh detainees remain in Al-Aktan prison as the US military has started transferring up to 7,000 prisoners linked to the militant Islamist group from Syrian jails to neighboring Iraq. US officials say the detainees are citizens of many countries, including in Europe.
“Specialized teams were formed from the counter-terrorism department and other relevant authorities to take over the tasks of guarding and securing the prison and controlling the security situation inside it,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Under a sweeping integration deal agreed on Sunday, responsibility for prisons housing Daesh detainees was meant to be transferred to the Syrian government.
The SDF said on Monday it was battling Syrian government forces near Al-Aktan and that the seizure of the prison by the government forces “could have serious security repercussions that threaten stability and pave the way for a return to chaos and terrorism.”
The US transfer of Daesh prisoners follows the rapid collapse of Kurdish-led forces in northeast Syria. Concerns over prison security intensified after the escape on Tuesday of roughly 200 low-level Daesh fighters from Syria’s Shaddadi prison. Syrian government forces later recaptured many of them.
