BEIRUT, November 10. /TASS/. Israeli soldiers will have to fight in the streets of the Gaza Strip as soon as they get out of their armored vehicles, Mohammad Al-Hindi, deputy secretary general of the Islamic Jihad radical group, said on Friday.

"Israeli soldiers conduct fire from tanks in Gaza City, but as soon as they get out of their armored vehicles they will have to engage in a street fight and sustain losses," the Al Mayadeen television channel quoted him as saying at a news conference in Beirut. "The 35 days of the conflict have demonstrated that Palestinians are capable of resisting the occupational forces invading the enclave."

"Israel is not only bombing schools, hospitals and mosques, but is also using weapons against our people in Gaza and is hitting bakeries, water supply systems, solar batteries," he said. "This is being done to squeeze Palestinians out of Gaza hiding behind protection from America and the West."

"This is a crime the likes of which we haven’t seen since the end of World War II," he said.

Touching on issues of prisoner swaps with Israel, Al-Hindi blamed Israel for delaying the release of hostages taken on October 7, adding that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu will have to agree to this sooner or later.

Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obaida said on October 29 that the movement was ready to make a deal to swap Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons for all the hostages they had captured in Israel on October 7.

According to Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesman Daniel Hagari, Israel has verified data about 229 people who are being held hostage by radicals in the Gaza Strip.