A top Hamas official has said Israel decided to sacrifice its hostages by re-launching massive attacks in the Gaza Strip, shattering a period of relative calm since a January truce, AFP reports.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Netanyahu’s decision to resume war is a decision to sacrifice the occupation’s prisoners and impose a death sentence on them”, Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq said in a statement.

He added that the Israeli premier was using the fighting as a political “lifeboat” to distract from internal crises.