Deputy Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri clarified in an interview with Al-Jazeera that the murderous terrorist organization will not release hostages as long as the IDF conducts fighting in the Gaza Strip.

“There will be no exchange of prisoners until the end of the war and the cessation of the fire,” he stated.

Al-Arouri noted that Hamas is not opposed to exchanging bodies of terrorists for bodies of Israelis held in the Gaza Strip.

“We are able to exchange bodies, but we need time to retrieve bodies of Israelis,” he claimed.

Israel announced on Friday morning the renewal of fighting in Gaza, after the Hamas terror organization violated the terms of the operational pause.

The announcement came after the original ceasefire ended at 7:00 a.m. and after Hamas failed to provide a new list of hostages that would have been freed on Friday evening.

In addition, Hamas fired rocket barrages towards southern Israel early in the morning.

Over the weekend, the IDF struck over 400 terror targets throughout Gaza.