Hamas stated on Monday that two of the hostages captured on Oct. 7 had been killed in Israeli airstrikes and launched photos that appeared to indicate their our bodies, however the Israeli navy forged doubt on the declare.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, chief spokesman for the Israeli navy, stated at a press briefing that at the very least one of many hostages was not killed by its forces. “That’s a Hamas lie,” he stated. He didn’t tackle the destiny of the opposite hostage.
“We’re investigating the occasion and its circumstances, inspecting the photographs distributed by Hamas, alongside extra info at our disposal,” he added.
The declare of the hostages’ deaths, in a video launched by Hamas’s navy wing, got here after two taunting messages from the group promising information on Monday in regards to the destiny of three hostages — the 2 it later stated have been killed, and a 3rd it stated was injured.
A senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel declined to touch upon the video, however the Israeli authorities has condemned such messages as psychological warfare.
The video included clips, apparently recorded earlier, of the 2 hostages who it claimed have been killed, Yossi Sharabi, 53, and Itai Svirsky, 38, talking whereas wanting right into a video digicam, after which confirmed video apparently displaying their our bodies. It included narration by the hostage who reportedly survived, Noa Argamani, 26, who informed of her companions’ deaths and described being wounded, herself.
It was not doable to find out when or the place any scenes within the video have been recorded.
Admiral Hagari, whereas not confirming the deaths, stated that “in current days,” the navy had met with the boys’s households “and expressed grave concern for his or her destiny, on account of info accessible to us.”
A earlier video, launched on Sunday, confirmed the three hostages figuring out themselves by identify and age, and ended with a caption that learn: “Tomorrow we are going to inform you of their destiny.”
One other video, launched early Monday, featured headshots of the three hostages and stated, “Tonight we are going to inform you of their destiny.”
The movies appeared designed to taunt Israelis determined for information of the hostages and to ratchet up stress on the Israeli authorities to make concessions to safe their launch. On the similar time, the movies appeared to reveal the leverage which Hamas can exert on Israeli society by the hostages.
In a 3rd video that introduced the 2 deaths, Ms. Argamani addressed a digicam whereas seated in opposition to a white background. It was not doable to find out whether or not she was talking from a script that had been ready for her; Mia Schem, a hostage launched in late November, has stated that Hamas dictated to her what to say for a video that was printed in October.
Earlier movies launched by Hamas in regards to the hostages have omitted or distorted essential particulars.
Rights teams and worldwide legislation consultants say that any hostage video is, by definition, made underneath duress, and might represent a warfare crime.
Within the final of the three movies, Ms. Argamani stated that she had been in a constructing with the 2 others when it was hit by three missiles fired by an Israeli warplane, with two exploding and burying them underneath rubble. She stated that Hamas fighters dug her and Mr. Svirsky out however that Mr. Sharabi had been killed. She didn’t say when the assault occurred.
She stated that two nights later, she and Mr. Svirsky had been relocated to a different location. En route, Mr. Svirsky was killed by an Israeli strike, she stated, and he or she obtained shrapnel wounds to her head and physique. The video ended with photos of what gave the impression to be the 2 males’s lifeless our bodies mendacity on white sheets.
Admiral Hagari later stated that Mr. Svirsky had not been hit by Israeli forces.
“The constructing the place they have been being held was not a goal, and it was not struck by our forces,” he stated. “We didn’t know their real-time location; we don’t strike in locations the place we all know there could also be hostages. In hindsight, we all know we struck targets close to to the situation the place they have been being held.”
