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By World Israel News Staff
Hamas is threatening to execute additional Israeli captives, a senior Biden administration official warned Wednesday, adding that the recent killings of five Israeli captives and one American-Israeli captive could complicate a future hostage deal and likely lead to fewer live captives being released.
Speaking with reporters Wednesday evening, the official said that following the murder of six captives by Hamas terrorists sometime last week, the terror organization is indicating it could execute additional hostages.
“Hamas is threatening to execute more hostages. So this cannot be lost in what we’re dealing with here,” The Washington Post quoted the senior official as saying.
Noting that some of the six hostages found dead in a Rafah tunnel over the weekend were on the list of captives slated to be freed in the first stage of a ceasefire deal, the official said their killings would likely reduce the number of live hostages freed in the first stage of a future deal.
“There’s a list of hostages, and we all have it, and Hamas has had it, and all the parties have had it. And there’s now fewer names on the list,” the official said, according to the Post.
According to The Times of Israel, the senior Biden administration official later explicitly noted that the killings could lead to fewer hostages – and jailed Palestinian terrorists – being released in stage one of a deal.
“For each hostage, there’s a certain number of Palestinian prisoners that will come out, so you just have fewer hostages as part of the deal in phase one.”
“It’s tragic and awful, and it’s affecting all of us.”
According to the proposal drafted by the Biden administration and presented to both sides, approximately 30 Israeli captives would be released during the first phase of a ceasefire, with multiple jailed Palestinian terrorists to be released for each freed captive.
The Biden administration official said that the number of jailed terrorists likely to be released over the course of the three-part deal, in exchange for the return of the remaining 101 Israeli captives – both living and dead – is approximately 800.
