Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian Islamic militant group Hamas Saturday claimed nine more hostages, including four foreigners, were killed in Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip. The militant wing of Hamas said that IDF struck areas where the hostages were being held, killing nine of them.
Earlier on Friday, Hamas had said that 13 hostages were killed in the Israel air strikes, taking the total number of captives killed to 22. However, the Hamas claim could not be verified and Israel has rejected previous similar claims as propaganda. The IDF said that it has its own information on hostages but didn’t divulge any more details about their safety and whereabouts.
Hamas kidnapped more than 120 people, including foreign nationals from several countries, during their surprise assault on Israel last week. They had earlier threatened to kill the hostages one by one if Israel launched air strikes without prior warning.
The development comes after Israel’s 24-hour deadline for Gazans to flee north and reach safer areas south of the Wadi Gaza for their own “safety and protection”. The announcement was seen as a precautionary move by Israel Defence Forces to avoid civilian causalities amid international pressure ahead of their expected ground assault.
The Israeli army has mobilized tens of thousands of troops, including 300,000 reservists, near the Gaza Strip border as it prepares to set foot on Gazan soil to root out Hamas.
Following the October 7 attack, Israel has declared a war against Hamas and vowed to wipe out the Palestinian militant group off the face of the Earth. More than 2,200 Palestinians, including civilians, have been killed in more than 1,300 air strikes by Israeli army in Gaza.
According experts, a full blown ground assault by Israeli forces is now just a matter of a day or two as they await civilian evacuation to complete. The UN has criticized the Israeli order of mass evacuation and asked the country to take it back, warning “devastating humanitarian consequences”.