Hamas urges Hezbollah to kidnap Israeli soldiers in wake of Knesset passing death penalty bill

Abou Ubaida, Hamas spokesman for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, addressed his message to the terrorist organization Hezbollah, which he called the “Islamic Resistance in Lebanon.”

A Hamas spokesperson on Tuesday called on Hezbollah terrorists to “intensify their efforts” to kidnap Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, saying it was in an effort to “liberate” Palestinian and Arab prisoners following the Knesset’s passage of the death penalty bill.

Abou Ubaida, Hamas spokesman for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, addressed his message to the terrorist organization Hezbollah, which he called the “Islamic Resistance in Lebanon.”

“Our people’s struggle against the Zionists has proven that the shortest path to freeing prisoners is through resistance,” Ubaida said, urging Hezbollah to “complete the mission” that Hamas began in Gaza. “We are confident that God will not abandon our free prisoners and will grant them relief and a way out of their difficult situation.”

Hamas condemns death penalty bill for terrorists, calling it ‘Zionist arrogance’

Ubaida also accused Israel of “Zionist arrogance” in the form of the Knesset’s recent adoption of the death penalty bill for terrorists and the “crime of closing the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

The death penalty bill, sponsored by the Otzma Yehudit party of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, would, according to its supporters, act as a deterrent against terrorism and serve as a measure of justice for victims of terrorism.

These “crimes,” Ubaida insisted, compel “all components of our nation and the free peoples of the world to make every possible effort to punish the occupation for its crimes, or at least to pressure it to put an end to its transgressions. This is the least we can do.”

Keshet Neev and Sam Halpern contributed to this report.