The resistance is able to liberate Palestinian prisoners in Israel, claims Hamas

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, claimed on Tuesday that resistance groups are able to put pressure on the Israeli occupation authorities, leading them to release all Palestinian prisoners held in their jails, Quds Press has reported. The movement made its comment to commemorate Palestinian Prisoners’ Day yesterday.

“The [Israeli] occupation understand nothing except the language of power and the logic of rivalry,” said Hamas. “The resistance groups have the power to impose pressure enough to push the enemy to release the Palestinian prisoners.”

#PalestinianPrisonersDay

The movement added that it is ready to cooperate with a third party to arrange a prisoner swap with the Israelis. It suggested that Egypt could take such a role, citing its participation in the previous swap deal agreed in 2011, when Israel released more than 1,000 prisoners in return for the return of Sergeant Gilad Shalit, who was captured from his tank on active duty near the Gaza border in 2006.

Hamas has preconditions for the start of talks for a new deal: a full commitment from Israeli to the 2011 deal, and the release of all the prisoners released by that deal who were re-arrested almost immediately.

INTERVIEW: ‘Every Palestinian is subject to arrest’

The resistance movement also called for the International Committee of the Red Cross to exert maximum efforts to push Israel to respect the international conventions related to the treatment of political prisoners.

Cartoon depicting the lives of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails