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Hamas refuses Russia’s request to release its dual citizens from captivity in Gaza - The Times of Israel

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The Hamas terror group does not intend to comply with Russia’s request to release all Russian citizens currently held in captivity in Gaza, Hamas deputy politburo chairman Moussa Abu Marzouk told the Arabic edition of Russian state-owned media outlet RT on Friday.

According to Hebrew media outlet Ynet, Hamas rejected a request made by Moscow in December for the release of captives with dual Russian-Israeli citizenship because “many Israelis have dual citizenship,” and so it is not enough of a reason to justify their release.

“We did not capture people because they’re Russian or French. We captured them because they kill Palestinians and they’re Israeli soldiers,” Abu Marzouk reportedly told RT Arabic during the 25-minute interview.

“Israel gives them foreign citizenship and then claims that they aren’t Israeli, but rather that they have a different citizenship. It’s as though we don’t have captive Israelis at all,” the Hamas official added.

In fact, Israel has never claimed hostages with dual nationality are not Israeli.

Abu Marzouk also claimed, as a further justification for refusing to fulfill Russia’s request, that “most of the Israeli soldiers have dual citizenship.”

The majority of the 253 hostages seized by the terror group on October 7 — during their onslaught in which some 1,200 people were slaughtered — were civilians. Additionally, only around 10 percent of Israel’s population is believed to hold citizenship in two or more countries.

It is believed that 132 of the hostages taken on October 7 remain in Gaza — not all of them alive — after 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in late November. Four hostages were released before that, and one was rescued by troops.

The bodies of eight hostages have also been recovered and three hostages were mistakenly killed by the military. The IDF has confirmed the deaths of 27 of those still held by Hamas, citing new intelligence and findings obtained by troops operating in Gaza.

One more person has been listed as missing since October 7, and their fate is still unknown.

Hamas has also been holding the bodies of fallen IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin since 2014, as well as two Israeli civilians, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who are both thought to be alive after entering the Strip of their own accord in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

Palestinian Senior Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk, front, attends the funeral of Saleh Arouri, in Beirut, Lebanon, on January 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Abu Marzouk’s interview came during a visit to Moscow by the Hamas official, at which time he met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov to discuss the ongoing war in Gaza.

“The Hamas leadership delegation held political consulting with the Russian Foreign Ministry to discuss ways to a ceasefire to achieve an end to the aggression against our Palestinian people,” Abu Marzouk said in a statement following the meeting.

“The delegation affirmed the right of our Palestinian people to achieve freedom and return, and their right to resist the Zionist occupation by all available means,” he added.

In return, Bogdanov “expressed his country’s position in support of the rights of the Palestinian people,” Abu Marzouk said.

Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk, center, attends the funeral of Saleh al-Arouri, in Beirut, Lebanon, January 4, 2024. (AP/Hussein Malla)

The war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza was triggered by the shock onslaught on October 7, after which Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas from the Gaza Strip and end the terror group’s 16-year rule.

It launched an aerial campaign and subsequent ground invasion, which the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza claims has killed more than 25,000 people, though these figures cannot be independently verified, and are believed to include both civilians and Hamas members killed in Gaza, including as a consequence of terror groups’ own rocket misfires.

The IDF says it has killed over 9,000 operatives in Gaza, in addition to some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.

Senior Hamas official Khaled Mashaal addressed the impact of the October 7 onslaught on the Palestinian people during an interview with a Kuwaiti podcaster earlier this month, saying that he believes it reignited “the dream and the hope of one state for Palestinians from the River to the Sea and from the north to the south.”

Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal at a rally in Hamas’s honor in Cape Town, South Africa, October 21, 2015. (AFP/Rodger Bosch)

Mashaal rejected the notion of a future Palestinian state existing within the framework of the two-state solution, saying that Hamas rejects the idea, “because it means we would get a promise for a Palestinian state, yet would be required to recognize the legitimacy of the other state — the Zionist entity.”

“This is unacceptable,” he continued. “We demand to be liberated, to get rid of the occupation and to have our independent state. Israel is my enemy, it is not my concern.”

The Hamas official explained that although the terror group’s official policy is to seek a singular Palestinian state that would replace Israel inside of the borders established in 1948, it chooses to fall in line with other Palestinian entities, including the Palestinian Authority, in seeking a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders — for the time being.

“We will not give up our right to Palestine in its entirety,” he said, “but in order to establish a common ground and a joint Palestinian plan with the other Palestinian forces, and in line with the Arab position, Hamas agreed to a completely independent state within the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital, with the right of return [for refugees and their descendants] included, without recognizing the legitimacy of the Zionist entity.”

This, he explained, would lay the groundwork for a future Palestinian state established within the 1967 borders to then expand, “without relinquishing any of our rights or any part of our land.”

“I believe that October 7 has enhanced this conviction, has narrowed the disagreements and has turned the idea of liberating Palestine from the river to the sea into a realistic idea that has already begun,” he added.

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