Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the Hamas terror group's military wing, on Wednesday said that Israelis held captive by Hamas were injured in May 2019 by IDF airstrikes, Israel Hayom reported.
Last May, Gaza terrorists fired 700 rockets at Israel, injuring dozens of Israelis and killing four. In response, the IDF attacked Hamas military and terror infrastructure, including "civilian" buildings used to hide terrorists and weapons.
Speaking on Hamas' television channel, Abu Ubaida said he was mentioning the issue "in light of how [Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu defrauded the Israeli public with Naama Issachar's release, during a period when Israel left its captives in Gaza since 2014, without caring about their unknown fate."
"We in the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades are publicizing the fact that we have hidden since the May 2019 attacks on the Gaza Strip, when the enemy bombed civilian and security buildings and other sites: Some of the captives belonging to the enemy were directly injured, and at this stage, we are not revealing what their fate was. We promise our heroic captives that we will do everything possible, and in any manner, in order to free them."
An IDF source responded by saying that Hamas' claims are "cheap psychological warfare."
Hamas is currently holding the bodies of IDF soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, who were killed during 2014's Operation Protective Edge.
In addition to Goldin and Shaul, Hamas is believed to be holding two living Israelis, both of whom are mentally ill: Hisham al-Sayed, and Avera (Avraham) Mengistu. Both men walked into Gaza due to their mental illnesses, and though their families have repeatedly asked the government to bring them home, they have also insisted that it not be done by freeing living terrorists, as Israel did in the infamous "Shalit deal."
In 2017, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) urged Hamas to comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law and provide an update on the condition of Israelis it is holding in Gaza: "Missing persons, regardless of their status – fallen or captured soldiers during fighting, or civilians taken captive by an adverse party – are protected by humanitarian law. They and their families must be shown due regard under the law," the ICRC said in a statement.
Hamas, however, failed to comply with the ICRC's demand.