Hamas’s declared on Monday that three hostages have succumbed to their injuries sustained during Israeli airstrikes, while another 5 were seriously wounded.

“The al-Qassam Brigades announce the killing of three of the eight Zionist detainees who we announced yesterday were seriously injured in the barbaric Zionist raids on the Gaza Strip,” the Al Qassam Brigades said on Hamas’s Telegram channel. “We will postpone announcing the names and photos of the dead for days to come until the fate of the rest of the wounded becomes clear.”

Hamas’s information regarding hostages is often viewed as unreliable and part of psychological warfare, and past instances have seen Hamas erroneously claim the death of hostages who were later released.  For instance, Hamas claimed that Hannah Katzir had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, only for her to be released two weeks later.

However, the IDF has acknowledged the possibility of mistakenly causing the death of hostages during airstrikes, such as Yossi Sharabi, who was unknowingly held by Hamas in a nearby building targeted by the IAF.

Hamas’s announcement came less than a day after the IDF’s successful rescue of two hostages in Rafah. In response to the rescue operation, Hamas issued a statement condemning what it described as the “Nazi occupation army’s attack on the city of Rafah” and accused Israel of committing “horrific massacres against defenseless civilians.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)