Hamas announced the presence of prisoners with Russian citizenship

Hamas is holding captive Israelis with dual citizenship, including Russian, Reuters reports, citing a representative of the Palestinian group.

According to him, some of them also have Chinese citizenship. However, the group has still not disclosed the exact number of hostages that were kidnapped as a result of the attack on Israel.

In addition, there are conflicting statements coming from Hamas itself regarding the future fate of the hostages. Thus, the head of the group’s external relations department, Basem Naim statedthat the militants will treat the hostages humanely and that they will all be safe. However, on October 9, the official representative of the military wing of the movement, Abu Ubaida, threatened that militants would kill hostages if Israel continued to attack the Gaza Strip.

Earlier on October 9, the Russian Embassy in Israel reported the death of one Russian citizen as a result of a Hamas attack; before that, the kidnapping of Russians by militants had not been officially reported.

On October 7, Hamas began military operations against Israel. The militants attacked the army’s border units and entered Israeli populated areas. The Israel Defense Forces responded by launching Operation Iron Swords, and the Israeli government announced that the country had entered a state of war. Both sides of the conflict have already reported hundreds of deaths.