Israel suspends family visits to Hamas prisoners

Jerusalem, June 30 (IANS) The Israeli prison service has halted visits for the relatives of prisoners of the Islamist Hamas movement, official sources in the Gaza Strip said.

A spokesperson for the prison service said on Thursday that they do not comment on this issue, Efe news reported.

Gaza authorities said this decision was "a declaration of war against the prisoners", warning that Hamas will not allow it to be effective "whatever the cost".

Abdulrahman Shadid, an official of Hamas' Prisoners' Affairs, condemned the Israeli decision and rejected this measure to put pressure on Hamas to free Israeli captives.

According to digital website Ynet, the decision, which affects 1,200 prisoners in Israel, aims to compel Hamas, which has controlled the coastal enclave since 2007, to return the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza in 2014.

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