The armed wing of Hamas declared on Friday that the organization will not back down from its demand that Israel leave Gaza to ensure the release of the captives who were taken prisoner in the October 7 raid.

The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades spokesman, Abu Obeida, stated in a televised statement that "our top priority to reach a prisoner exchange deal is the complete commitment for the halt of aggression and an enemy withdrawal, and there is no compromise on this."

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The announcement was made as optimism for a fresh ceasefire in the five-month-old conflict between Israel and Hamas began to wane following the Palestinian organization's extraordinary offensive on southern Israel on October 7.Before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which may start as early as Sunday depending on the lunar calendar, mediators have been frantically trying to secure a cease-fire.

The delegation of Hamas expressed discontent with the Israeli replies to its requests on Thursday and departed from the most recent round of negotiations in Cairo to have meetings with the movement's leadership in Qatar.

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Israel has been under pressure from Hamas to leave Gaza, but Israel has resisted.

In the October 7 raid, Hamas took around 250 hostages; after a week-long truce in November, some of the captives were freed.

Israel estimates that 31 hostages have perished and 99 captives are still alive in Gaza.It was anticipated that any new peace agreement would entail the release of certain hostages in exchange for Israeli-held Palestinian inmates.

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The health ministry of the Hamas-run area in Gaza reports that at least 30,878 Palestinians have died as a result of Israel's military campaign of retaliation to eliminate Hamas.

In addition, Abu Obeida on Friday urged "our people" to organize and "crawl" toward the Al-Aqsa mosque complex in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, which has historically been a hotbed of unrest during Ramadan.

End//voice7news.tv 

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