Israel\u2019s attempt to kill Hamas\u2019s political leaders with the September 9 strike prompted international condemnation, but a defiant Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Qatar to either expel Hamas officials or \u201cbring them to justice, because if you don\u2019t, we will.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t Damage is seen after an Israeli strike targeted a compound that hosted Hamas\u2019 political leadership in Doha, Qatar, on September 10, 2025 (AFP)<\/p>\n Hamad additionally told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that Washington lacks credibility as a mediator for a ceasefire deal, citing what he called the group\u2019s \u201cbitter\u201d experience with the truce efforts.<\/p>\n In response to Trump\u2019s warning that there would be \u201chell to pay\u201d if Hamas used hostages as human shields, Hamad said the US president \u201cdoesn\u2019t scare us,\u201d and claimed that captives are held according to \u201cbeliefs and Islamic principles.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe deal with the prisoners according to our values, and despite the massacres against our people, the one putting them in danger is the [Israeli] occupation itself,\u201d Hamad added.<\/p>\n \t A composite image of five members of Hamas\u2019s leadership targeted by Israel in Qatar on September 9, 2025, L-R: Zaher Jabarin, Khaled Mashaal, Khalil al-Hayya, Muhammad Ismail Darwish, Nizar Awadallah. (Mahmud Hams\/Louai Beshara\/KHAMENEI.IR\/AFP)<\/p>\n A number of hostages have been murdered by terrorists in captivity. Hostages who have been rescued and released have described being tortured, including enduring beatings, sexual abuse, psychological abuse and starvation, while their captors had no shortage of food. A recent video of a hostage showed him emaciated and forced to dig his own grave.<\/p>\n The ongoing war began when Hamas-led terrorists rampaged through southern Israel\u2019s communities on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages.<\/p>\n Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 48 hostages, including 47 of the 251 abducted by terrorists in the October 7 attack, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive. There are grave concerns for two others. The remainder are thought to be dead.<\/p>\n The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 65,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it had killed over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.<\/p>\n Israel says it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas fights from civilian areas, including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 465.<\/p>\n AFP and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
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