Abu Obeida: Israel Targeted Captive After Agreement Announcement

January 16, 2025

Abu Obeid accused Israel of deliberately killing the captives. (Design: Palestine Chronicle)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

Abu Obeida warns that Israeli strikes endanger the Gaza ceasefire deal and its prisoner exchange agreement.

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, have warned that Israeli airstrikes targeting Gaza could jeopardize the safety of Israeli detainees ahead of the implementation of the prisoner exchange deal set to begin on Sunday.  

Abu Obeida, the spokesman for the Qassam Brigades, stated on Thursday via Telegram that the Israeli army targeted a location where one of the female prisoners included in the deal’s first phase was being held. 

“Any aggression and bombing at this stage by the enemy could turn the freedom of a prisoner into a tragedy,” he cautioned.  

The fate of the prisoner following the reported attack remains unclear.  

The ceasefire agreement, reached on Wednesday, includes the exchange of 33 Israeli prisoners for hundreds of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons. The agreement is expected to take effect on Sunday.  

However, hours after the announcement, Israeli aircraft carried out intensive raids across Gaza, resulting in numerous casualties, including fatalities and injuries. 

In response, Palestinian Resistance forces shelled Israeli positions along the Netzarim axis, south of Gaza City.  

The developments have raised concerns about the durability of the ceasefire agreement amid ongoing violence.

Israeli Massacres

Israeli warplanes launched a series of intense airstrikes on Gaza City overnight, resulting in dozens of deaths, just hours after a ceasefire agreement was announced for the Gaza Strip.

According to the Civil Defense in Gaza, since the announcement of the ceasefire agreement, Israeli occupation forces have killed 71 people, including more than 19 children, and 24 women in Gaza City alone while over 200 Palestinians have been wounded.

Palestinian media outlets reported that two massacres occurred in under an hour, one in Al-Jalaa Street and the other in Sheikh Radwan neighborhood.

According to Al-Jazeera’s correspondent, 18 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed and others injured when an airstrike targeted a home near the Engineers’ Syndicate on Al-Jalaa Street in central Gaza.

In a simultaneous strike, 12 people were killed and others injured when a residential area in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, in northwestern Gaza City, was bombed.

Despite the announcement of a ceasefire agreement, which is set to take effect next Sunday, Israeli airstrikes on Gaza have escalated.

(PC, AJA)