A Jewish settler who was held hostage in Kibbutz Be’eri and who was earlier attending a party in the open desert nearby refuted Israel’s story that the Al-Qassam Brigades killed the hostages on purpose.
The settler emphasized in an interview with the Hebrew channel Kan that she was “one of the hostages who were released by the gunmen (resistance fighters) after two and a half hours of detention.”
“Believing that it was nothing more than a missile attack from the Gaza Strip my husband and I fled from the party to the Be’eri settlement.”
“We were on edge as the gunmen (resistance fighters) repeatedly knocked on our door for about an hour while speaking Arabic. It was a terrifying time” she said.
“They managed to enter the room and take us out we were four they then took us to another house where there were eight hostages and 40 armed men (resistance fighters) guarding us.” she elaborated.
Did they torture you? The Israeli journalist interrupted her. She answered “No they did not torture us. They cared for us in a very humane way kept us safe gave us water when they noticed we were anxious and soothed us. We were not attacked and they showed no signs of using force against us.”
“They informed us that they did not intend to kill us but rather capture and transport us to Gaza” she continued. “I am convinced that the hostages were killed in a violent Israeli tank bombardment of the small building in addition to a firefight between Al-Yamam forces and the militants (resistance fighters)” she continued.
Maamoun Abu Amer a university professor who specializes in Israeli affairs commented on the incident and said that the Hebrew Radio had invited the freed captive to be a witness to the story they desired and to fabricate a crime for Hamas. However they were shocked in the live show by what they heard after they had hidden the previous witness who had previously spoken about the good treatment of Al-Qassam fighters.
Speaking to the PIC reporter Abu Amer emphasized that the statements made by the settler demonstrate that Al-Qassam’s objective was to kidnap soldiers in order to trade them for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
&ldquoAl-Qassam fighters briefly detained them to confirm their identities out of concern that they might be Israeli army personnel&rdquo he added.
The International Criminal Court should look into these testimonies and disprove the Israeli fabrications Abu Amer said.
