Hamas says 2 Israeli hostages killed in Gaza bombardment

By Anadolu staff

ISTANBUL (AA) – Hamas said Monday that two Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian group were killed in Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip.

The group’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, released a video showing three hostages appealing to the Israeli government to end the Gaza war and secure their release.

Two of the hostages appeared dead at the end of the video, without any details about the circumstances leading to their deaths.

The footage identified the three hostages as Noa Argamani, 26, Yossi Sharabi, 53, and Itay Svirsky, 38.

There was no comment yet from the Israeli authorities on the report.

Hamas is believed to be holding nearly 137 Israeli hostages following its cross-border attack on Oct. 7.

Israel has launched a deadly onslaught on the Gaza Strip since the Hamas attack, killing at least 24,100 people and injuring 60,834 others, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed.

The offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Writing by Ahmed Asmar