Terror group Hamas’ founding leader Khaled Meshaal said all civilian hostages will be released if the right conditions are met while speaking to UK-based news outlet Sky News on Wednesday. 

Meshaal, who headed the Kuwaiti wing of Hamas and chairman of the Hamas political bureau. He is also revered as a “living martyr”, the Sky News report said, citing that he survived an Israeli attempt to assassinate him almost 30 years ago. 

“Let them stop this aggression and you will find the mediators like Qatar and Egypt and some Arab countries and others will find a way to have them released and we’ll send them to their homes,” Meshal was quoted as saying by Sky News. 

“We want to stop the random bombardments, the total destruction, the genocide so that the al Qassam soldiers can take them from their places and hand them to the Red Cross or whoever. We need the right conditions to allow them to be released,” he further added, explaining that hostages will not be released until the intensity of the Israeli retaliation decreases, referring to the ‘intense’ Israeli air offensive. 

He said that 22 hostages had already been killed due to the airstrikes. He did not divulge much information regarding the nationality of the dead hostages but said most of the dead hostages were Israelis. 

Hamas is currently holding at least 222 hostages of which they have released four of them and two out of them are Israeli hostages. Hamas bosses allegedly told newly inducted terrorists that- they will receive a stipend of $10,000 if they bring hostages and were told to focus on the elderly and children. 

Meshal said there is also a window of opportunity to discuss peace if Israel intends to do so. “The exit can be in two stages. First regarding this current conflict, this criminal war on Gaza, the bombardment and aggression on Gaza should stop and Israel should cease forcefully removing the people of Gaza from the northern parts to the southern,” he said, as per Sky News. 

“Israel should withdraw from all occupied lands, and we will have a window of opportunity and real opportunity” he further added. 

Image Source: Times of Israel