DUBAI, October 17. /TASS/. The radical Palestinian movement Hamas intends to exchange the hostages it captured in southern Israel for the 6,000 Palestinian prisoners now being held in Israeli jails, Hamas overseas representative Khaled Mashal said.

"As many as 6,000 Palestinian men and women are being held in Zionist prisons and we want to free them in exchange for Israeli captives. The resistance is strong enough to free all prisoners from jail," he stated in an interview with the Al Araby TV channel.

Abu Ubayda, a spokesperson for Hamas’ military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, said on Monday that the radicals were holding 200 to 250 people hostage.

According to the Washington Post, Hamas militants took at least 64 captives into the Gaza Strip after their surprise raid on Israeli territories adjacent to the Palestinian enclave. The paper said that, "among them were 49 people who appeared to be civilians — nine of them children — and 11 who appeared to be members of the Israeli military."

The Jerusalem Post reported on October 9 that various Palestinian groups had captured and were holding at least 130 hostages. Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said later that Hamas militants had more than 130 hostages.

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again after Hamas militants infiltrated Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7. The Palestinian movement described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City. Israel announced a total blockade of Gaza and started carrying out strikes on the Palestinian enclave, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank. Over 2,800 Palestinians have been killed and more than 11,200 have suffered wounds; in Israel, the death toll stands at about 1,500 and nearly 4,000 people have been wounded.