Abu Obaida, the official spokesman for the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, said that a committee had been formed to investigate the incidents and the details of the probe would be announced later. Abu Obaida added that attempts are being made to save the lives of the two women.
“The enemy government (Israel) bears full responsibility for these massacres and the resulting reactions that affect the lives of Zionist prisoners,” he stated in a statement posted on Telegram.
The statement offered no further details and it’s unclear what condition the women captives are in.
The incident is the first time that the Qassam Brigades have publicly said one of its guards killed an Israeli hostage. Previously, the group has announced the deaths of several hostages, blaming their deaths on Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli army spokesperson responded to the news, saying that “there is no intelligence document to confirm or refute Hamas’ allegations”.
“We continue to investigate the credibility of the statement and will provide information where we have it,” Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on X.
The killing of the hostage comes after an Israeli air strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians killed 100 people. The strike took place while Palestinians were performing dawn prayers.
On Saturday, an Israeli air strike on a Gaza City school complex housing displaced Palestinian families killed around 100 people.
A Palestinian civil defence worker told MEE that “most of those killed were children and elderly people”, and they were reduced to shreds and burned body parts due to the intensity of the air strikes.
Israel claimed the prayer hall contained a “military facility” and that 31 of those killed were “terrorists”. But a preliminary investigation by the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor found the list of names provided by the military as “terrorists” killed included several inaccuracies.
At least three people had been killed in strikes earlier in the war, and the list also included the names of three elderly people who had no military connections, including a school principal, the deputy mayor of Beit Hanoun and a university professor, as well as several Hamas opponents.
The incident also comes several weeks after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated, in what Hamas said was an Israeli strike in Tehran where Haniyeh was visiting.
Hamas chose Yahya Sinwar, who has been leading Hamas inside Gaza, as the new leader of its political bureau.
