Two captives killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza: Hamas

The military wing of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas says Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip over the past 96 hours have killed two Israeli captives and seriously injured eight others.

The al-Qassam Brigades announced the development in a brief statement on the group’s Telegram channel on Sunday.  

“Their conditions are becoming more dangerous in light of the inability to provide them with appropriate treatment. (Israel) bears full responsibility for the lives of those injured in light of their continued bombing,” the statement read.

Israel’s Chief Military Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari recently said that 31 of the remaining captives held by Hamas in Gaza were dead. “We have informed 31 families that their captured loved ones are no longer among the living and that we have pronounced them dead.”

Israel has said more than 130 captives are still being held in the besieged Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview aired on Sunday that "enough" of the 132 remaining Israeli captives held in Gaza were alive to justify Israel's ongoing war in the region.

"We're going to try to do our best to get all those who are alive back and, frankly, also the bodies of the dead," he said in the interview with ABC's "This Week" program.

The Palestinian Prisoners Club, which documents and cares for all Palestinian detainees, stated on Sunday that the number of Palestinians who have been arrested since Oct. 7 had reached 6,950 people.

After Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Strom into the Occupied Territories on October 7, it captured more than 240 Israeli soldiers and settlers as captives.

In late November, a short-lived 7-day truce saw more than 100 Israeli captives freed in exchange for about 240 Palestinian prisoners held illegally in Israeli jails. 

ME