With rockets and rhetoric, Hamas seeks to leverage Palestinian prisoner escape

TEL AVIV— Hamas, aiming to capitalize on the public euphoria after Palestinian prisoners escaped from an Israeli prison last week, said it would demand the release of the men who have been rearrested as it remained committed to fighting.

Abu Obeida, the spokesman for the Hamas militant arm, al-Qassam Brigades, spoke during a weekend of rocket fire exchanges with Israel that threatened to shatter a fragile four-month cease-fire between Hamas and Israel.

“An upcoming exchange deal will only take place with the liberation of these heroes,” he said Saturday night. “If the heroes of the Freedom Tunnel have liberated themselves this time from underground, we promise them and our free prisoners that they will be liberated soon, God willing, from aboveground.”

The video statement was released after rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel. Overnight Saturday, Israeli fighter jets and helicopters struck three Hamas targets in Gaza. On Sunday night, at least one rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel for a third consecutive night.

The Israeli army said Israel views the “Hamas terrorist organization as responsible for all terror activity emanating from the Gaza Strip.”

“If the situation escalates, Hamas and the Gaza Strip will pay a heavy price,” Israeli army Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi said Sunday night.

The cross-border exchange of fire was spurred by developments in the Israeli manhunt for the Palestinian prisoners. The cease-fire halted an 11-day conflict between Israel and Hamas in May that left 13 dead in Israel and more than 250 dead in the Gaza Strip.

On Saturday, Israeli police said they had arrested four of the six Palestinian fugitives.