Hamas officials said a group of guards monitoring Israeli hostages in Gaza killed one prisoner and wounded two others.
Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’s military wing, said on Monday that guards in two separate incidents shot an Israeli hostage, killing him and seriously wounding two others.
The spokesman did not identify the victims or when and where the incidents occurred, and only claimed that the terrorist group had formed a committee to investigate.
Obeida, the same man who previously threatened to execute Israeli hostages and released the footage, said the wounded hostages were receiving treatment.
“At this stage, there is no intelligence document that confirms or refutes Hamas’s claims,” the IDF said in a statement.
The IDF added: “We are continuing to verify the authenticity of the statement, and will update it as soon as possible with any information we have.”
Hamas’ announcement comes after Israeli military spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a televised briefing on Monday that the hostages remain a top priority.
“We do not forget for a moment the hostages who are being brutally held by Hamas in Gaza. We are deeply concerned about their physical and psychological state, given the long time that has passed and the harsh conditions they are living in captivity,” Hajari said.
Some 251 hostages were taken from Israel during the October 7 massacre, and 111 of them are believed to still be held by Hamas – including five Americans.
The Israeli military believes at least 39 of the hostages are dead, with information revealed on Monday threatening to raise the death toll to 40.
The United States, Egypt and Qatar are trying to mediate a hostage exchange between Israel and Hamas.
But the terrorist group, now led by the mastermind of the October 7 coup, Yahya Sinwar, backed out of the peace talks scheduled for Thursday, claiming the discussions had strayed too far from what President Biden and the U.N. Security Council supported last month.
Despite Hamas’s refusal to participate in the August 15 ceasefire negotiations, State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters on Monday that the agency expected the meeting to continue.
“We fully expect the talks to move forward, as they should. All negotiators need to come back to the table and get this deal done,” Patel said, declining to comment on Hamas’s rejection.
with mail wires
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