Deputy Foreign Minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, announced on Saturday, October 28, 2023, that representatives of the Hamas movement promised to respond to Russia’s request to release eight prisoners held by the resistance in Gaza who hold Russian citizenship.

The Russian RT news website quoted Bogdanov as saying: “During the meeting in Moscow, we presented a list of names of eight people, Russian hostages, and they promised us to respond and help find them and take measures leading to their release.”

For his part, a member of the Hamas Political Bureau, Musa Abu Marzouk, confirmed that the movement views Russia's requests regarding detainees holding its nationality more positively, taking into account the nature of the relationship with Moscow.

Abu Marzouk said, “Inviting the movement’s leadership to visit Moscow is a message to the whole world that Russia considers Hamas a national liberation movement and not a terrorist movement,” noting that Russian President Vladimir Putin “thankfully did justice to the Hamas movement and the struggle of the Palestinian people and protected it politically in the Security Council and the United Nations.” "United."

Representatives of the Palestinian Hamas movement had visited Moscow, where they met with Bogdanov, which angered the occupation, which demanded that Moscow expel them immediately.

Al-Qassam Brigades spokesman, Abu Ubaida, said on Saturday evening, “The large number of enemy prisoners we have is the price of emptying all prisons of all Palestinian prisoners.”

Abu Ubaida indicated in a video speech that “contacts took place regarding the prisoners’ file and there was an opportunity to reach an agreement, but the occupation was stalling.”

For three weeks, Israel has been carrying out a military operation in the Gaza Strip, which it called “Iron Swords,” which destroyed entire neighborhoods and killed 7,326 martyrs, including 3,038 children, 1,726 women, and 414 elderly people, in addition to injuring 18,967 citizens with various injuries.

At dawn on October 7, Hamas carried out Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood,” in which its fighters stormed camps and settlements surrounding the Gaza Strip, killing more than 1,400 Israelis and wounding 5,132, according to the Israeli Ministry of Health. They also captured more than 220 Israelis, including high-ranking military personnel. It wants to exchange them for more than 6,000 Palestinian prisoners, including children and women.