One Israeli hostage was killed and two were injured in two separate incidents involving Al-Qassam fighters in Gaza, according to a statement from Hamas military wing spokesman Abu Ubaida.
In one incident, a fighter shot dead a hostage he was guarding, and in another, two hostages were injured, Abu Ubaida said in a statement. Attempts are being made to save the lives of the hostages, he added.
Al-Qassam did not identify the hostages and blamed Israel for the “massacres and the resulting reactions”, Abu Ubaida said, insinuating that the shooters may have been motivated by recent Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, including one against a school that killed more than 100 peopleaccording to local authorities.
“A committee has been formed to investigate the details, which will be announced later,” Abu Ubaida added.
This appears to be the first time since the October 7 terrorist attack, in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 240 taken hostage, that Hamas or other militant groups have admitted to killing or injuring Israeli hostages.
About 40,000 Palestinians were killed in the war that followed the Oct. 7 attack, according to Gaza health officials.
In a statement, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said he was aware of the two incidents.
“At this stage, we do not have any intelligence confirmation that would allow us to refute or verify Hamas’ claims,” he said. he said in X. “We are continuing to investigate and verify the credibility of the message and will update as soon as we have more information.”
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
