Hamas accuses IDF of ‘trying to kill’ last Israeli-American hostage

Hamas says it lost touch with the group holding Edan Alexander, whose release takes centre stage in Israel’s latest proposal for a renewed ceasefire.

An image grab from a video of Edan Alexander released by Hamas's armed wing Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades on April 12. Picture; AFP.

Hamas has accused the Israeli military of trying to kill the last Israeli-American hostage in Gaza, after the military group was forced to admit it had “lost contact” with his captors.

The inflammatory claim came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed the group would continue to “suffer blow after blow” unless it agreed to a truce.

In a statement on Telegram, Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’s military wing the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said contact with the group holding Edan Alexander, whose release reportedly takes centre stage in Israel’s latest proposal for a renewed ceasefire.

“We announce that we have lost contact with the group holding soldier Edan Alexander following a direct strike on their location,” Abu Obeida wrote. “We are still trying to reach them at this moment,” he added.

However, he continued: “It seems that the (Israeli Defence Force) is deliberately trying to kill him and relieve themselves from the pressure caused by the dual-citizen prisoners in order to continue its genocide.”

Hamas’s military wing also released a video addressed to the families of the remaining hostages, warning them that their loved ones were likely to return in coffins if Israel kept up its bombardment of the territory.

Over video images of masked militants carrying black coffins out of white vans in the darkness, the video carried a subtitled message in English, Arabic and Hebrew.

“Be prepared. Soon, your children will return in black coffins with their bodies torn apart by shrapnel from your army’s missiles,” the message warns.

Hamas’s armed wing released a video on Saturday showing Mr Alexander alive, in which he criticised the Israeli government for failing to secure his release.

Mr Alexander appeared to be speaking under duress in the footage, making frequent hand gestures as he criticised Netanyahu’s government.

Mr Alexander was serving in an elite infantry unit on the Gaza border when he was abducted by Palestinian militants during their October 2023 attack.

The soldier, who turned 21 in captivity, was born in Tel Aviv and grew up in the US state of New Jersey, returning to Israel after high school to join the army.

Hamas said on Monday (local time) it had received a new truce offer from Israel that foresees the release of 10 living hostages, starting with Alexander, in exchange for a 45-day ceasefire.

A Hamas official said the Israeli proposal called for Mr Alexander’s release on the first day of the ceasefire as a “gesture of goodwill”.

It was delivered to the group’s delegation in Cairo by Egyptian officials over the weekend, and a senior Hamas official told AFP the group would “most likely” respond within 48 hours.

Another Hamas official said Israel had also demanded that the Palestinian militants disarm to secure an end to the Gaza war, but said this crossed a “red line”.

Out of 251 hostages taken during Hamas’s October 2023 attack, a total of 58 remain in captivity, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

In northern Gaza, Mr Netanyahu told troops, “They are striking the enemy and Hamas will continue to suffer blow after blow. We insist that they release our hostages, and we insist on achieving all of our war objectives.”

French President Emmanuel Macron told Mr Netanyahu in a telephone call Tuesday that only a ceasefire in Gaza could free the remaining hostages.

Saying the suffering of Gazan civilians “must end”, he called for “opening all humanitarian aid crossings” into the Palestinian territory.

Mr Macron angered Israel last week when he suggested Paris could recognise a Palestinian state during a United Nations conference in New York in June.

Mr Netanyahu’s office said he told Mr Macron on Tuesday that the establishment of a Palestinian state would be a “huge reward for terrorism”.

AFP