One Israeli hostage was killed and two wounded in two separate incidents involving al-Qassam fighters in Gaza, according to a statement from Abu Ubaida, spokesman for Hamas’ military wing.
In one incident, a fighter fatally shot a male hostage he was guarding, and in the other incident, two female hostages were wounded, Abu Ubaida said in a statement. Efforts are being made to save the lives of the female hostages, he added.
Al-Qassam did not identify the hostages and blamed Israel for “the mass killings and the resulting reactions,” Abu Ubaida said, suggesting the gunmen may have been motivated by Israel’s recent airstrikes in Gaza, including one on a school that more than 100 people killedaccording to officials there.
“A committee has been formed to find out the details, which will be announced later,” Abu Ubaida added.
This appears to be the first time since the October 7 terrorist attack that killed 1,200 people and took more than 240 hostages that Hamas or other militant groups have admitted killing or wounding Israeli hostages.
Gaza health officials say about 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war that followed the October 7 attack.
Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a statement that they are aware of the two incidents.
“At this point, we do not have any intelligence confirmation that would allow us to refute or verify Hamas’ claims,” he said on X“We continue to investigate the message and verify its validity and will provide an update as soon as we have more information.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
