Hamas loses contact with group responsible for 4 Israeli hostages in Gaza

By Ahmed Asmar

ANKARA (AA) – Palestinian group Hamas said Monday it has lost contact with a group of fighters guarding four Israeli hostages following Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip.

"We have lost contact with a group of our resistance fighters guarding four Zionist (Israeli) prisoners as a result of the barbaric Israeli bombing in the last 10 days,” Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for the group’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said in a brief statement.

He identified one of the hostages as Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American citizen who appeared in a video last month criticizing the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and appealing for his release.

Hamas is believed to be holding nearly 130 Israeli hostages since its cross-border attack that killed 1,200 people on Oct. 7, 2023.

The Palestinian group demands an end to Israel’s deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip in return for any hostage swap deal with Tel Aviv.

Nearly 35,100 Palestinians have been killed, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and over 78,800 others injured in the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Tel Aviv is committing genocide in Gaza, ordering it to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.