The armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas said Monday that its militants shot and killed an Israeli hostage and injured two others, both women, “in two separate incidents” in Gaza.
Hamas took 251 captives during their October 7 raid on Israel, which sparked the continuing conflict, with 111 of them still detained in Gaza, including 39 who the Israeli military believes are dead.
Spokesman for the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida, said in a statement: “In two separate incidents, two recruits assigned to guard enemy prisoners fired at a Zionist prisoner, killing him immediately, and also injured two female prisoners critically.”.
The statement, shared on Telegram, did not identify the hostages or specify when or where the occurrences occurred, but did declare that “attempts are being made to save the lives” of the two ladies.
Abu Obeida mentioned that Hamas had formed a committee to investigate the shootings.
In reaction, the Israeli military said in a statement that it does “not have any intelligence information that allows us to refute or confirm Hamas’ claims.”
“We will continue to examine and verify the credibility of the message,” the statement added.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman, said in a televised briefing earlier on Monday, “We do not forget for a moment the hostages being cruelly held by Hamas in Gaza.”
“We are deeply concerned about their physical and mental condition, given the prolonged time that has passed and the harsh conditions of their captivity.”
According to an AFP calculation based on official Israeli estimates, the October 7 bombing killed 1,198 individuals, the majority of whom were civilians.
Israel’s retaliatory military onslaught in the Gaza Strip since then has killed at least 39,897 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not disclose information on civilian and militant casualties.
