Hamas released a video purportedly showing the dead bodies of two Israeli hostages on Monday after warning Israel that they might be killed if it does not stop its relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip. The video released by the Palestine-based militant group claims to show the bodies of Yossi Sharabi (53) and Itai Svirsky (38), along with a third Israeli hostage Noa Argamani (26) reading a script in front of a blank white wall saying that the two were killed by Israeli strikes.
However, the Israeli military denied culpability in the "death" of the hostages and said there was serious concern regarding the fate of the hostages purported to be dead in the video. "Itai was not shot by our forces. That is a Hamas lie. The building in which they were held was not a target and it was not attacked by our forces," said Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari.
The trio were among the 240 people taken hostage by Islamist Hamas militants during a surprise cross-border rampage into southern Israel on Oct. 7. Around half of those hostages were released during a short-lived November truce, but Israel says 132 remain in Gaza and that 25 have died in captivity.
The three Israelis were shown in a Hamas video on Sunday in which the group urged the Israeli government to halt its aerial and ground offensive and bring about their release. "Tomorrow (Monday) we will inform you of their fate," read the caption of the video.
Israel-Hamas war crosses 100-day mark
The war has gone on for more than 100 days with no end in sight despite an ongoing case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Residents said Israeli planes and tanks intensified their bombardment again across Gaza on Monday night. Four people were killed and several others were wounded in a strike at Al-Bureij in central Gaza.
Israel's military said it had withdrawn another division of troops as part of plans for more targeted operations against Hamas leaders in the south after an initial all-out offensive centred on the heavily built-up northern end of the Strip. Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Hamas would not agree to release any more hostages without military pressure.
The armed wing of Hamas said its fighters had ambushed and killed five Israeli soldiers in the southern city of Khan Younis. Palestinian health officials said earlier that seven people had been killed and others hurt in an Israeli air strike near the city's Nasser hospital.
Health officials said 132 were killed in the past 24 hours, taking the overall Palestinian death count to 24,100, while nearly 61,000 people have been wounded. Almost two million displaced people are sheltering in tents and other temporary accommodation in southern Gaza amid the fighting, and are facing increased risks of starvation and disease due to chronic shortages of food, fuel and medicines.
War expands
Meanwhile, Palestinians carried out coordinated car-rammings in the central Israeli town of Raanana, killing a woman and injuring 12 other people, police and medical officials said. France said two of its nationals were among the injured.
Sami Abu Zuhri, head of Hamas' political unit in exile, told Reuters the incidents were linked to Israeli "crimes" and were further evidence that the conflict was expanding. At least 351 people have been killed in the occupied West Bank, run by the Palestinian Authority, due to Israeli raids aimed at finding militants.
The war has also threatened to expand with the entry of Iran through attacks by Lebanon's Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthi rebels. Houthis on Monday damaged a US-owned ship carrying steel products with an anti-ship ballistic missile south of the Yemeni port of Aden, saying they were expanding their targets after US and British air strikes on their positions in Yemen.
(with inputs from Reuters)
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