The armed wing of Hamas claims that three hostages were killed during the Israeli operation in Nuseirat

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June 9 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, the Ezzeldin Al Qassam Brigades, published a video this Sunday in which they claim that three hostages, including a citizen with a US passport, died during the Israeli operation to free four Israelis held captive in the Gazan refugee camp of Nuseirat.

In a video message addressed to Israeli families of hostages, the brigades assure that “your government is killing prisoners to save others, and time is running out.”

“Your government has killed three prisoners in Nuseirat, one of whom has American citizenship,” the brigades add in the video, published on Telegram and picked up by the newspaper ‘Filastin’, linked to the Islamist movement.

The armed group thus repeats the statements of its spokesperson, Abu Obeida, who this past Saturday already announced that the operation in Nuseirat had cost the lives of a then undetermined number of hostages.

The Islamist movement has also denounced that 274 people died and 698 were injured by the wave of bombings unleashed by Israel against Nuseirat and surrounding areas to facilitate the operation.

On the other hand, the English-speaking spokesman for the Israeli Army, Peter Lerner, flatly denied to that the operation had led to other dead hostages.

Later, the Israeli Army published an official note in which it stated that Abdullah Yamel was “an agent of the Hamas terrorist organization who was holding the kidnapped Almog Meir, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv in his family home in Nuseirat.”

“In Abdullah’s family house there were hostages along with their relatives. This is further proof that the terrorist organization Hamas uses the civilian population as a human shield,” the Army highlighted. “The security forces will continue to make every effort to recover the kidnapped people,” he stressed.