The Argentine news outlet Infobae reported that Hamas does not know the locations of some of the 240 people abducted from Israel on Oct. 7.
The Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani appeared to verify that report on Sunday, telling the Financial Times that some of the hostages were “missing” and that Hamas would allegedly use the time bought in a truce Israel agreed to in exchange for the release of hostages to find others they have allegedly lost. Qatar allows Hamas, a genocidal jihadist terror organization, to maintain its “political” operations base in Doha and has been helping Hamas communicate with the government of Israel and its allies.
The whereabouts of the hostages not in direct Hamas custody remain unknown. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a rival terrorist group, reportedly claimed to be keeping 30 of those hostages imprisoned. Some reports have suggested that organized crime syndicates in Gaza, which Hamas controls, may be keeping individual hostages or families in captivity independent of direct Hamas control.
Hamas took its hostages on October 7 as part of a massive, unprecedented terror assault it has dubbed the “al-Aqsa flood.” On that day, the jihadists invaded Israel and began indiscriminately killing civilians, raiding residential communities and executing entire families in door-to-door attacks. The terrorists filmed themselves abducting people, killing them, torturing them, desecrating the bodies of victims, and posted many of the videos to social media, including the profiles of their victims. Eyewitness and forensic evidence indicate that the terrorists engaged in multiple acts of gang rape, including at least one killing in which a woman was shot in the head in the middle of a gang rape. Authorities have also found evidence of Hamas terrorists killing and mutilating children, including decapitated and charred bodies of babies. Israeli officials estimate the death toll of the “al-Aqsa flood” to be upwards of 1,200 people.
