Gaza, MINA – The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas, has publicly paid tribute to its secretive Shadow Unit, which is credited with securing Israeli captives in Gaza and ensuring the success of recent prisoner exchange operations, Palestine Chronicle reported.
In a statement released on its official Telegram channel on Tuesday, the Brigades wrote: “A fitting tribute to the unknown soldiers of the Shadow Unit,” describing its members as those who “protected and concealed the prisoners held by the resistance, despite Israel’s relentless efforts to uncover their fate.”
The statement continued: “This tribute is for those who safeguarded the enemy’s prisoners throughout two years of the Al-Aqsa Intifada under the most difficult conditions, giving their effort and blood until the resistance’s promise of freedom for our prisoners was fulfilled.”
The Shadow Unit operates under extreme secrecy due to the sensitivity of its mission, ensuring the safety of Israeli captives inside the Gaza Strip while maintaining total anonymity to preserve the integrity of future prisoner exchange efforts.
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The unit’s existence was first publicly acknowledged in 2016, a decade after its formation, when reports emerged linking it to the operation guarding captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, whose case later resulted in a landmark prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel.
Ahead of Monday’s prisoner release, members of the Shadow Unit reportedly allowed several captives to make phone calls to their families. One member even addressed an Israeli family in Hebrew, urging them to share the video publicly so that the footage could reach Israeli media outlets.
Israel’s Channel 12 later reported that the Shadow Unit appeared during the first batch of prisoner releases in Gaza City. The report sparked widespread debate among Israeli commentators, many of whom interpreted its public reappearance as further evidence that “Hamas continues to fully control Gaza.”[]
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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