Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip over the past 96 hours have killed two Israeli hostages and seriously injured eight others, Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, said on Sunday over the group’s Telegram channel. The IDF declined to address the claims, saying that the terror group often uses psychological warfare and manufactured facts to try to cover up its executions of hostages.
Hamas’s statement read: “Their conditions are becoming more dangerous in light of the inability to provide them with appropriate treatment. (Israel) bears full responsibility for the lives of those injured in light of their continued bombing.”
Hamas terrorists killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and abducted at least 250 in their brutal October 7 attacks. Israel subsequently responded with a military assault targeting Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, has killed more than 28,000 Palestinians. The Hamas health ministry does not differentiate between combatants and noncombatants in their tally, but the IDF has said it has killed over 10,000 Hamas fighters.
Despite the IDF not recognizing Hamas’s statements on Sunday, the IDF on Friday announced the results of a comprehensive probe, concluding that an attack by the air force on Hamas in central Gaza likely accidentally also killed Israeli hostage Yossi Sharabi.
Sharabi was being held by Hamas in a structure adjacent to the structure that the air force attacked, but IDF intelligence did not know that at the time.
The IDF attack on the adjacent structure led to the collapse of the structure in which Sharabi was being held.
Though the IDF had some information about hostages in the general area, the information did not indicate a danger to hostages in the immediate vicinity.
It is still possible that Sharabi was shot and killed by Hamas, and without access to Sharabi’s body in a way that would allow a separate analyzing the potential causes of death, the IDF cannot yet determine with 100% certainty how he died.
However, given the facts compiled by the probe, the IDF believed it was required to provide this analysis to Sharabi’s family and the general public.
On January 15, Hamas announced that hostages Yossi Sharabi, 53, and Itai Svirsky, 38, had been killed in captivity. Noa Argamani, 26, is reportedly still alive.
United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini was slammed verbally for his denial that new evidence of deep infiltration of UNRWA by Hamas had proved the humanitarian organization’s complicity with the terror group.
On X, formerly Twitter, he stated, “UNRWA did not know what is under its headquarters in Gaza,”
Lazzarini’s statement came in response to the IDF finding a Hamas tunnel powered by UNRWA electric infrastructure underneath the agency’s Gaza headquarters.
During the IDF raid on the UNRWA headquarters itself, the IDF reported finding guns, ammunition, grenades, and other explosives inside the offices of the building.
The UNRWA chief stated that the UN organization had been notified of the reports of a tunnel under the body’s Gaza headquarters.
“UNRWA staff left its headquarters in Gaza City on 12 October following the Israeli evacuation orders and as bombardment intensified in the area,” Lazzarini wrote. “We have not used that compound since we left it nor are we aware of any activity that may have taken place there.
UNRWA’s denial of knowledge of the presence of Hamas infrastructure was met with an outpouring of skepticism and cynicism.
IDF spokesman, Lt.-Col. (Res.) Peter Lerner replied to Lazzarini on X, stating, “All UNRWA, @UNLazzarini, @TomWhiteGaza needed to do was check the power and water bills.”
He went on to question whether the commissioner-general of UNRWA intended to condemn Hamas for endangering their operations.
“The exposure of UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters’ deep involvement with Hamas, including its use for terror activities and as an access point to terror tunnels, requires immediate action,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz posted on X. “Commissioner-General Lazzarini’s claim of unawareness is not only absurd but also an affront to common sense. His prompt resignation is imperative.”
Also in response to Lazzarini’s denial of knowledge of Hamas infrastructure beneath Gaza’s UNRWA headquarters, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) wrote on X, “Oh, you knew. Digging a tunnel takes longer than 4 months. We invited senior @UN officials to see, and during past meetings with you and other UN officials, we stated Hamas’s use of UNRWA’s headquarters. You chose to ignore the facts so you can later try and deny them.”
Separately, an officer from the 603rd Combat Engineering Battalion was seriously wounded in battle in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday and an officer and soldier in the commando paratroopers unit were seriously wounded in battle in southern Gaza on Friday, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit announced on Sunday.
In the North, the IDF struck Hezbollah sites near the town of Marwahin, over the border with Lebanon, as Hezbollah continued to claim attacks against Israeli forces along the Lebanese-Israeli border on Sunday.
The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit stated that terrorist infrastructure and a rocket launcher were hit in the strikes near Marwahin.
Additionally, a military outpost and terrorist infrastructure were hit in Israeli strikes near Ramyah, Yaroun, and Chihine in southern Lebanon. Earlier in the day, shots were fired toward a suspect near Kafr Kila.
According to the Lebanese al-Jadeed TV, two individuals from the Hezbollah-aligned Amal movement and the Islamic Risala Scout Association were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Chihine on Sunday afternoon.
Reuters contributed to this report.