Hamas says it has 'enough' Israeli captives to free all Palestinian prisoners

New Delhi, Oct 7 (IANS) A senior Hamas leader has said that the group has captured "enough" Israeli soldiers during an unprecedented attack against Israel to make Israeli authorities free all Palestinian prisoners in its jails, a media report said.

"We managed to kill and capture many Israeli soldiers. The fighting is still on," Saleh al-Arouri, deputy chief of Hamas' political bureau, told Al Jazeera on Saturday.

"Our detainees in (Israeli) prisons, their freedom is looming large. What we have in our hands will release all our prisoners. The longer fighting continues, the higher the number of prisoners will become," added al-Arouri, who said senior officers were among those captured, but did not provide any figures.

Nearly 5,200 Palestinians are in Israeli jails, including 33 women, 170 minors and more than 1,200 placed under administrative detention, Al Jazeera reported, citing the latest figures by Addameer, a prisoners' rights NGO.

The Israeli army has acknowledged soldiers and commanders have been killed and prisoners of war have been taken. It has not given any figures.

Hamas, the group running the besieged Gaza Strip, launched the biggest operation on Israel in years on Saturday, killing dozens of people and wounding hundreds after fighters crossed into Israel under the cover of a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza. Meanwhile, Hamas social media accounts posted footage of what were said to be Israeli captives moved alive into the Gaza Strip, the media outlet reported.

The Israeli military launched air raids on the Gaza Strip, killing at least 198 Palestinians and wounding hundreds of others, according to the enclave’s ministry of health.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, al-Arouri said the group is engaged in a battle for freedom.

"This is not a (hit-and-run) operation; we started an all-out battle. We expect fighting to continue and the fighting front to expand. We have one prime target: our freedom and the freedom of our holy sites," he told the media outlet.

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