A senior Hamas official cited President Joe Biden's prisoner swap deal with Iran as evidence that taking hostages will further the terrorist group's aims.
"There are Hamas members sentenced for life in the U.S. We want them too. Of course," Hamas spokesman Ali Baraka said Sunday in an interview translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute. "We demand that the U.S. free our sons from prison. The U.S. conducts prisoner swaps. Only recently, it did one with Iran. Why wouldn't it conduct a prisoner swap with us?"
Baraka's comments, which he made on an Arabic language channel of Russian state-owned news outlet Russia Today, came the day after Hamas terrorists entered southern Israel, killing hundreds of civilians. The terrorists took hostages from the Israeli towns they raided.
The comments also come weeks after the Biden administration approved a prisoner swap with Iran, in which the president sent five Iranian prisoners and approved the release of $6 billion of the regime's funds in exchange for the release of five U.S. citizens held in Iran.
Biden on Monday said American citizens are likely among those held hostage by the terrorists. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Tel Aviv on Thursday that at least 25 Americans were killed in Hamas's attack and at least 17 others are missing.