The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas says three captives were killed, including a US citizen, in a recent Israeli military offensive on a camp in Gaza, which also killed more than 270 Palestinian civilians.
Hamas’ armed al-Qassam Brigades made announcement in a video posted on its Telegram channel on Sunday.
Details have been presented in the video released by the military wing of Hamas about three Israeli captives killed by the Israeli army.
They were killed during the offensive that was carried out on Saturday to release four Israeli captives, the group said.
The video stresses the fact that one of the captives is a US citizen.
“Your captives will not be released unless our prisoners are freed,” the video added.
Israel claimed to rescue four captives in an operation in central Gaza’s al-Nuseirat camp on Saturday which killed at least 274 people and injured around 700 more.
Israeli forces launched the raid in broad daylight, claiming to strike at military infrastructure in the camp as part of a "rescue operation."
But witnesses and journalists on the ground say Israel bombed residential buildings, leading to higher casualties.
Medics said the Palestinian death toll is the worst over a 24-hour period of the Gaza war for months and including many women and children.
They have described scenes of chaos and carnage after the deadly Israeli army raid. Overwhelmed hospitals were already struggling to treat the wounded from days of heavy Israeli strikes in the area.
There are more than 100 captives still being held in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Israel on Sunday continued to pound various parts of the besieged Gaza Strip with its indiscriminate airstrikes and artillery fire.
The latest casualties bring Gaza’s total death toll since October 7 to at least 37,084, most of whom are women and children. Thousands more are feared buried under the rubble.
Meanwhile, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees cites a UNICEF report that nine out of 10 children in the Gaza Strip are experiencing severe food shortages.
Children in #Gaza continue to suffer unimaginably from this war.@UNICEF reports 9 out of 10 children in #GazaStrip are experiencing severe food poverty, with @Oxfam reporting that many spend entire days without food.
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) June 9, 2024
No child should face such horrific conditions: #CeasefireNow pic.twitter.com/cOAqoOMMjP
The United Nations is set to announce the addition of Israel to a blacklist of entities that have violated the rights of children during armed conflict.