Iran Says Hamas Will Let Hostages Go if Airstrikes on Gaza Stop

Iran’s Foreign Ministry claims Hamas might be ready to release the nearly 200 hostages it is holding if Israel stops its campaign of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. The militant group hasn’t acknowledged making such an offer.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani spoke at a news conference in Tehran, according to the Associated Press. Iran’s theocracy is a main sponsor of Hamas in its fight against Israel, Tehran’s regional archenemy.

Hamas officials “stated that they are ready to take necessary measures to release the citizens and civilians held by resistant groups, but their point was that such measures require preparations that are impossible under daily bombardment by the Zionists against various parts of Gaza,” Kanaani said.

Hamas has said it will trade the 199 captives for thousands of Palestinians held by Israel in the kind of lopsided exchange deals that have been reached in the past.

Iran has warned it could enter the war as well if Israel launches a widely anticipated ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran and Hezbollah not to “test us” in the north.

Netanyahu gave a speech in the Israeli Knesset on Monday in which he said the world needed to unit to defeat Hamas. He said “this war is also your war,” and he compared Hamas to the Nazis.

Hamas forces killed 1,400 Israelis in a stunning attack that began on Oct. 7.

Officials in Gaza said 2,750 people were confirmed dead in strikes fired by Israel in response — a quarter of them children — and that nearly 10,000 were wounded. Another 1,000 were missing, believed to be under the rubble of pancaked apartment blocks and other buildings.