The spokesman for the military wing of Hamas claimed on Thursday afternoon that the alleged murder of one of the Israeli hostages was committed by one of its operatives who violated his orders.
According to Al Qassam Brigades spokesman Hudhaifa Kahlout, the guard killed a hostage "out of a vengeful motive and contrary to his instructions after he was informed that his children had been killed in an Israeli attack."
"We emphasize that this is not an incident that reflects the way we treat prisoners. We will refine the instructions so that such an incident does not happen again. We consider Israel responsible for all the suffering and dangers to which the prisoners are exposed," he added.
On Monday, Hamas posted a video to Telegram claiming that one of its guards had killed a male hostage and that two female hostages were injured in a separate incident.
At the time, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit stated in response to the report, "In the last few minutes, the Hamas terrorist organization published a message on Telegram in which they claimed that in two separate incidents, a hostage was killed, and two additional female hostages were injured by Hamas operatives."
"We currently do not have any intelligence information that allows us to refute or confirm Hamas’ claims. We will continue to examine and verify the credibility of the message and will update with any more information that we obtain," the IDF stated.
The identity of the hostages who were killed and injured has not been given, nor has any information been provided on the location of the incidents.
Approximately 250 people were kidnapped from southern Israel when Hamas attacked on October 7 and committed the largest massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. 105 hostages were freed in late November as part of a temporary deal between Israel and Hamas, and several others have been freed in military operations, including Operation Arnon in June.
115 hostages continue to be held in Gaza more than 10 months after they were kidnapped, many of whom are no longer alive.