CAIRO, December 15. /TASS/. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has attacked one of the sites in the Gaza Strip where hostages were being held, Abu Ubaidah, spokesman for the Hamas' Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades military wing, said.
"The Israeli army recently shelled the site where some hostages were being held," the movement's Telegram channel quoted him as saying.
According to the spokesman, Hamas fighters "tried to pull the hostages from under the rubble, and they managed to get one of them out, but their fate is unknown."
In Ubaidah’s opinion, the attack was deliberate and he held Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, "the government and army led by him" responsible for the incident. The spokesman did not specify as to how many hostages had been in the shelter.
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza-based Palestinian radical group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel has declared a state of war readiness; announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians; and began delivering air strikes on the enclave and certain parts of Lebanon and Syria, followed by a ground operation in the enclave. Clashes are underway in the West Bank as well.
At the end of November 2023, Hamas reported reaching an agreement with Israel, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, on a humanitarian truce which lasted a week. Israel managed to liberate 110 hostages during this time. On December 1, the IDF accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire and announced renewed fighting in the Gaza Strip, which continues to this day.
According to the latest data by the Israeli side, 100 hostages still remain in Gaza.