A senior Hamas official warned today Tuesday that no more hostages will be released if medicine and fuel are not delivered to the besieged Gaza Strip by the Israeli army.

On Monday, the Palestinian Islamist group released two Israeli women, three days after the release of two American women. More than 220 hostages are estimated to have been taken to the Gaza Strip since the October 7 attack by Hamas militants on Israeli soil.

“For humanitarian reasons, we unconditionally released four (hostages), but since they want more, we must persist in our request to the international community to put more pressure on Israel to open the Rafah border crossing to allow the delivery of fuel and medical supplies to Gaza,” he told the German News Agency (dpa). Osama Hamdan, a member of the political office of Hamas and its representative in Lebanon.

Hamdan, who is involved in the negotiations on the fate of the hostages, stressed that it is an inalienable right of the Palestinian people access to medical care amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes. If nothing else, the people of Gaza have the right “to receive medical care for the wounds inflicted by Israel,” the Hamas spokesman stressed.

“Israel must stop the attacks against our people, so that the release of the captives becomes possible,” added Osama Hamdan.

IDF categorical denial

IDF spokesman Vice Admiral Daniel Haggari however clarified that fuel will not enter Gaza, following reports that Hamas made the release of 50 hostages with dual citizenship a condition for supplying the Strip with fuel.

“The fuel won’t come in in the Gaza Strip. Hamas needs them for its operational infrastructure,” Hagari interpreted.