Hamas chief vows to free Palestinians held by Israel

By Nour Abu Aisha

GAZA CITY, Palestine

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal on Friday vowed to secure the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners languishing in Israeli jails.

“Israel will soon pay the price for failing to release Palestinians from its prisons," Meshaal said in a televised address from Doha in which he also voiced support for Palestinian prisoners who have been on hunger strike since April 17 to protest their conditions.

“Just as Hamas managed to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails six years ago, it can do so again,” Meshaal asserted.

In 2011, Hamas and Israel conducted a prisoner swap in which Hamas released captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in return for the release of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.

"We are prepared to pay a steep price for the release of our imprisoned brethren,” Meshaal said. “This is a religious, humanitarian and brotherly obligation."

"Prisoners are now waging a hunger strike for their freedom and we are united in support of their cause," he added.

The Hamas leader has said earlier that a number of different parties -- he did not specify who -- had offered to mediate a new prisoner swap.

In April of last year, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, released photos of four Israeli soldiers believed to have been captured by the resistance group.

Hamas refrained from disclosing, however, whether the soldiers shown in the photo were dead or alive.

Hamas has consistently refused to provide any information about captive Israelis without first exacting a price for it.

On April 17, more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel began an open-ended hunger strike to demand more prison visits, better medical care and improved treatment of female inmates.

The hunger-strike is being spearheaded by longtime Palestinian prisoner Marwan Barghouti, who has languished in an Israeli jail for more than a decade.

According to Palestinian figures, Israel is currently holding more than 6,000 Palestinians -- including 57 women and 300 children -- at 24 detention centers across the country.