Israeli forces 'deliberately' killing hostages in Gaza, says Al-Qassam Brigades

Israeli forces in Gaza are deliberately kills and injures hostages held in the Palestinian enclave, the armed wing of Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday.

"The (Israeli) occupation leadership ignored the fate of its captives, and the Zionist Nazi army deliberately kills and injures its captives," the group's spokesperson Abu Ubaida said in a broadcast statement.

Noting that losses among Israeli hostages "have become significant," Abu Ubaida said:

"We have warned dozens of times about the dangers faced by the enemy's hostages to the resistance, but the enemy's leadership ignored that."

Stressing that the Al-Qassam Brigades "have been trying to protect and care for the hostages for months to achieve the interests of our people," he said Israeli hostages in Gaza "are living in difficult conditions, struggling for their lives, and we are trying to protect their lives."

Abu Ubaida also underlined that the Al-Qassam Brigades "continue to confront a criminal Nazi army that has no precedent in contemporary history in its brutality and savagery, inflicting unprecedented losses in the history of our people's revolution."

He said Al-Qassam fighters were engaging in clashes with Israeli troops in the northern central, and southern Gaza Strip, accusing Tel Aviv of lying about "achieving its goals" or approaching victory.

"What the enemy releases in terms of statements, figures, and information is false propaganda for internal and moral purposes for the Israeli public, which realizes and will realize the lies of its leadership," he said.

Since a cross-border incursion by Hamas on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, the Israeli offensive into Gaza has killed more than 28,600 people and caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Despite international outcry, Israel plans a ground invasion of Rafah, which holds about 1.4 million refugees. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to "fight until complete victory and this includes a powerful action in Rafah."