Nazzal: Information on soldiers will not be free

Member of Hamas political bureau, Muhammad Nazzal, vowed that Hamas will be withholding updates about the fate of the captured Israeli soldiers until Israel is made to pay a heavy price in return.

ALRESSALAH Net website quoted Nazzal as reiterating the preconditions set by the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, over being provided with the profiles of the Israeli spies in the West Bank and Gaza in exchange for reports on the fate of the captured soldiers.

The Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility for the capture of the Israeli soldier Shaul Aaron in a clash with the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in al-Toffah neighborhood, east of Gaza. The Israeli occupation has announced the disappearance of another soldier east of Rafah.

Israel has been seeking ways to discern the fate of the missing soldiers, appealing to Egypt and other truce-broker parties to work out the affair, Nazzal pointed out.

“Israel got into the habit of acquiring pieces of information for free. Now this has become an out-of-the-question possibility,” he pledged.

According to Nazzal, the following round of swap talks will be independent of the ongoing ceasefire talks and quite apart from any Israeli wordplay, vowing Hamas is ready for another round of swap talks.

A renewed Egyptian-brokered ceasefire hearing is being currently held in Cairo following an agreement Monday on extending the truce for 72 hours.