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Hamas: Kidnappings to increase
01/07/2006 22:37 - (SA)
Oslo - The representative of Hamas in Lebanon said on Saturday that the number of kidnappings of Israelis would increase unless Israel freed Palestinian prisoners.
"Palestinians will do everything to get their sons, daughters, brothers and women freed from Israeli prisons," Osama Hamdan was quoted as saying in the internet edition of the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten.
He said the current Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip would not deter the kidnappers.
"Kidnappings will increase as long as Palestinians are not freed, whatever the outcome of the Israeli invasion in the Gaza Strip," he said, because "Israel has never freed Palestinian prisoners for any other reason".
The comments come days after the seizing by Palestinian militants of Israeli army corporal Gilad Shalit, which prompted the Israeli offensive.
Following the capture of the 19-year-old corporal on Sunday, militant factions affiliated to the armed wing of Fatah have sent several statements to the media claiming the abduction of other Israeli soldiers in the West Bank.
The Israeli government has launched a massive operation against the Gaza Strip in a bid to free the soldier.
More than a dozen Palestinian cabinet members belonging to the Hamas faction have been detained.
- AFP
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