Hamas claims most of Israeli captives in Gaza ‘missing’ after bombardment

The armed wing of the Palestinian group, Al-Qassam Brigades, made the announcement on Friday, as the Israeli regime continues its intensified bombardment of the besieged Palestinian territory.

“Most of the enemy captives have gone missing due to the incessant Zionist aggression,” a source from the Brigades told Al Jazeera Arabic.

The source stressed that al-Qassam “once again holds the Israeli regime and its military army fully responsible for the lives and fate of the captives” being held across the blockaded Palestinian region.

Al-Qassam Brigades in recent months has released a series of video messages, saying Netanyahu does not care about the fate of the Israeli captives and is deliberately killing them.

In video messages released by Hamas, Israeli captives in Gaza slam Netanyahu’s failure to secure their release through a deal with the movement. The videos also contain pictures of a number of Israeli captives, who were killed in Israeli military attacks on Gaza.

Hamas has time and again warned Israel that the lives of captives are in danger unless the regime reverses its course.

Hamas held captive around 250 people during its unprecedented operation against the occupied territories on October 7, 2023. The resistance released 105 of the captives during a week-long truce in November 2023.

Six captives were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the southern Gaza Strip in September.

Hamas announced at the time that Netanyahu “is directly responsible for the killing of dozens of captives due to bringing the ceasefire efforts to a failure.”

Al-Qassam Brigades in a recent message said that Netanyahu and the Israeli military’s chief of staff Herzi Halevi “are seeking to get rid of their captives in Gaza by all means.”

The developments come as the Israeli regime continues its intensified bombardment of the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli prime minister has long been obstructing mediation for a truce and a deal to release the captives still held by Palestinian groups in Gaza.

The families of the captives have held numerous rallies to call for a deal as public and diplomatic pressure has been mounting on the Netanyahu regime.

Hamas has repeatedly said that there is no alternative other than “a ceasefire, the withdrawal of the occupation forces, and the implementation of a prisoner exchange agreement” in exchange for the release of the Israeli captives.