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Osama Hamdan, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, warned Israel in a September 3, 2024 interview with Al-Jazeera Network (Qatar) against further hostage rescue operations, claiming that they have only resulted in killing the hostages. He said that only a negotiated deal will return the hostages, whom he referred to as "prisoners," and if such a deal is not struck, they will return in coffins or their fate will remain unknown like Israeli weapons systems officer Ron Arad, who went missing in action in 1986.
Osama Hamdan: "There is nothing new, except for what we hear in the media.
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"We believe that there is no need for a new [American] initiative. Netanyahu needs to be forced to accept what was offered, which was accepted by the resistance on July 2. This is the way out, rather than further futile negotiations.
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"The Americans should say that they stick to the draft that was offered, and which was accepted by the resistance. That proposal includes an Israeli withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor. We have made our position very clear. The Philadelphi Corridor is a joint Palestinian-Egyptian border. It is an international border and we do not accept the presence of any third party there. Israel wants to stay there in order to control and dominate the Rafah Crossing, in order to continue to impose the siege on the Palestinian people. We will not agree to a siege. Therefore, we have informed the different parties early on that unless there is a complete withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor, we will not be able to accept any formula that allows the occupation to stay there.
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"The U.S. administration's attempt to talk about 'new ideas,' means that it does not want to reach a solution, and that the fate of the prisoners who are left will be unknown. To be clear, either those prisoners were killed by Israeli bombardment, or by direct Israeli fire, like in the case of the three soldiers in Shuja'iyya, or they were killed during clashes, like what happened in Nuseirat, when the Israelis rescued four live prisoners, but killed three others in the same operation. So the idea of bringing the prisoners back on Israeli terms – both Israel and the U.S. administration need to realize that this is impossible. This will not happen. The prisoners will return if the aggression ends, and the occupation completely withdraws from the Gaza Strip."
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Osama Hamdan: "All the [Israeli] operations lead to their prisoners being killed, rather than rescuing them. If they continue on this path, the fate of these prisoners will become unknown. The message of the resistance is clear. The prisoners will only return in a negotiated deal. Otherwise. They will return in coffins, and perhaps the fate of some of them will be like the fate of Ron Arad."
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