Hamas Warns Israel It Is ‘Sacrificing’ Captives With Plans To Occupy Gaza City

Hamas has warned Israel that it is ‘sacrificing’ hostages with its newly approved plans to takeover and occupy Gaza City, and the whole of the strip.

The militant jihadist group called Netanyahu’s plans a “war crime” and highlighted that Israel’s careful use of the term “control” instead of “occupation” an attempt to whitewash the truth, and “to evade its legal responsibility for the consequences of its brutal crime against civilians.”

Hamas itself has killed thousands of Israelis – with most killed during its Oct.7 2023 terror attack on southern Israel – when it took hundreds captive. But it’s believed maybe just a dozen or more hostages are still alive - according to recent statements of Israeli officials.

Hamas recently featured a propaganda video of a still living hostage ‘digging his own grave’ in the tunnels under the Gaza Strip.

“They realize that expanding the aggression means sacrificing them,” the new Hamas statement said. This isn’t the first time that Hamas has warned more hostages could die as a result of Israeli actions.

Amid conflicting reports, the militant group has in the past claimed that Israel’s own air and artillery strikes have killed and wounded some of the hostages.

In a new vile propaganda video, the Hamas terrorist organization forced the emaciated hostage, Evyatar David, to dig his own grave. pic.twitter.com/BVNsHpqeCE

— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) August 2, 2025

Interestingly, Netanyahu is still touting that he’s open to Doba-based peace negotiations.

“We reiterate that, during our communication with the Egyptian and Qatari mediators, the movement offered all the necessary flexibility and positivity to ensure the success of the ceasefire efforts,” the PM’s office said.

Local as well as international reports say the scale of the new military offensive will require many thousands more reservists: 

In a meeting of the security cabinet that lasted 10 hours, ministers approved proposals for the “takeover of Gaza City”, which is likely to be the first phase for the Israeli military to assume full control of Gaza, as Netanyahu says it is his intention. A statement released by his office did not use the word “occupation” but, effectively, that is what the plans mean.

It is not clear when the operations, which could take months, will start, as the military will have to call up thousands of reservists, exhausted after serving multiple times, and allow for the forced evacuation of residents from an area where around 800,000 Palestinians live.

Israel in its conquest and ‘control’ efforts will be overseeing a largely starving Palestinian population, with most of them having long been internally displaced.

NBC is reporting that privately Trump ‘yelled’ at Bibi over the aid situation and rising humanitarian crisis – but the Israeli prime minister’s office is denying it…

Trump ‘yelled’ at Netanyahu during a recent phone call when he told him there was no mass hunger in the Gaza Strip — NBC

Sources report that when Netanyahu tried to convince Trump that the mass hunger in Gaza was not true and that the information was fabricated by Hamas, Trump… pic.twitter.com/utbAG2D7a7

— MenchOsint (@MenchOsint) August 8, 2025

Germany has reacted by halting all arms exports which could be used offensively in Gaza, and even UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in a rare break from Tel Aviv called the plan “wrong” and urged Israel to reconsider it “immediately”. China too is airing its extreme concern, but all of this global pressure is unlikely to deter Netanyahu after well over 600 days at war.