Hamas says it has “lost contact” with the group holding an Israeli-American hostage in Gaza, whose potential launch is reportedly a key a part of Israel’s newest cease-fire proposal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited northern Gaza Tuesday, his workplace introduced, because the navy stored up the assaults it resumed on March 18, successfully ending a two-month cease-fire.
Speaking to troops, he mentioned Hamas would proceed to “suffer blow after blow.”
In an announcement on Telegram, Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’s navy wing the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, mentioned: “We announce that we have lost contact with the group holding soldier Edan Alexander following a direct strike on their location.”
“We are still trying to reach them at this moment,” he added.
The navy wing later launched a video addressed to the households of the remaining hostages, warning them that their family members have been prone to return in coffins if Israel stored up its bombardment of the territory.
Over video photos of masked fighters carrying black coffins out of white vans within the darkness, the video carried a subtitled message in English, Arabic and Hebrew.
“Be prepared. Soon, your children will return in black coffins with their bodies torn apart by shrapnel from your army’s missiles,” the message warns.
Hamas’s armed wing launched a video on Saturday, displaying Alexander alive, during which he criticized the Israeli authorities for failing to safe his launch.
AFP was unable to find out when the video was filmed.
Alexander was serving in an elite infantry unit on the Gaza border when he was kidnapped by Hamas throughout their October 2023 assault.
The soldier, who turned 21 in captivity, was born in Tel Aviv and grew up within the U.S. state of New Jersey, returning to Israel after highschool to affix the military.
‘Gesture of goodwill’
Hamas mentioned on Monday it had acquired a brand new truce provide from Israel that foresees the discharge of 10 dwelling hostages, beginning with Alexander, in alternate for a 45-day cease-fire.
A Hamas official mentioned the Israeli proposal referred to as for Alexander’s launch on the primary day of the cease-fire as a “gesture of goodwill.”
It was delivered to the group’s delegation in Cairo by Egyptian officers over the weekend, and a senior Hamas official informed AFP the group would “most likely” reply inside 48 hours.
Another Hamas official mentioned Israel had additionally demanded that the Palestinian resistance group Hamas disarm to safe an finish to the Gaza battle, however mentioned this crossed a “red line.”
Out of 251 hostages taken throughout Hamas’s October 2023 assault, a complete of 58 stay in captivity, together with 34 the Israeli navy says are lifeless.
In northern Gaza, Netanyahu informed troops, “They are striking the enemy and Hamas will continue to suffer blow after blow. We insist that they release our hostages, and we insist on achieving all of our war objectives.”
French President Emmanuel Macron informed Netanyahu in a phone name Tuesday that solely a cease-fire in Gaza may free the remaining hostages.
Saying the struggling of Gazan civilians “must end,” he referred to as for “opening all humanitarian aid crossings” into the Palestinian territory.
Israel has minimize off all support to the Gaza Strip since March 2 to strain Hamas.
The United Nations has warned that Gaza’s humanitarian disaster is spiralling uncontrolled, with no support having entered the territory for a month and a half.
“The humanitarian situation is now likely the worst it has been in the 18 months since the outbreak of hostilities,” the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) mentioned.
Macron angered Israel final week when he instructed Paris may acknowledge a Palestinian state throughout a United Nations convention in New York in June.
France has lengthy championed a two-state resolution to the Israel-Palestinian battle, together with after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas incursion of southern Israel.
But formal recognition by Paris of a Palestinian state would mark a serious coverage change and danger antagonizing Israel, which insists such strikes by overseas states are untimely.
Source: www.dailysabah.com