Israel: No deal with Hamas before captives returned

By Esat Firat

JERUSALEM, Palestine

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said there would be no agreement with Hamas before the captive Israeli soldiers are returned.

The Israeli prime minister's remarks came when he received the parents of the missing Israeli soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, according to a statement released by Netanyahu’s office.

The two soldiers went missing in Gaza during the Israeli war that took place between July 8 and Aug. 26 in 2014.

The Ezzeddin al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas, unveiled in April 2016 that it holds four Israeli soldiers captive without elaborating on their condition.