By Hamas’s military wing announced Saturday that a female Israeli hostage had been killed in northern Gaza during Israeli military operations, though Israeli authorities said they could not confirm the claim about one of the 97 captives still held in the territory.
Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’s Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said contact had been restored with the woman’s captors after weeks of silence, revealing her death in an area of active Israeli military operations. The statement did not identify the hostage or provide details about how or when she died, but warned that a second female captive’s life was also in danger.
“At this stage, we cannot confirm or refute it,” the Israeli military said in a statement, responding to footage Hamas released allegedly showing the deceased hostage. “Army representatives are in contact with her family and are keeping them updated with all available information.”
The announcement affects the count of ten female hostages, including five soldiers, previously believed alive in Gaza. The Hostage and Missing Families Forum, a campaign group, emphasized it had no independent confirmation. “Nothing is known other than what Hamas is saying. Our only reliable source is the Israeli army,” the group told AFP.
Of 251 people taken captive during Hamas’s October 7 attack, 105 were freed during a November truce that saw Israel release 240 Palestinian prisoners. Israeli officials say 34 of the remaining 97 hostages are dead, as public pressure mounts on the government to secure another deal for the captives’ release.
The war, triggered by Hamas’s attack that killed 1,206 people in Israel, has resulted in 44,176 Palestinian deaths in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures the United Nations considers reliable.
