Israeli hostage attempted to commit suicide in Gaza, Islamic Jihad claims

An Israeli man held hostage by Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists in the Gaza Strip attempted to commit suicide while in captivity, the terror group claims.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

An Israeli captive held in the Gaza Strip by members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group attempted to commit suicide earlier this week, a spokesman for the organization claimed Thursday.

In a series of messages released to the group’s Telegram channel, Abu Hamza, spokesman for Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, the Al Quds Brigades, wrote that an Israeli man held captive had tried to take his own life three days ago.

“Three days ago, one of our medical teams dealt with a suicide attempt by a prisoner held by one of the security groups within Saraya Al-Quds,” Abu Hamza wrote.

The Islamic Jihad spokesman blamed the Israeli government for the captive’s “psychological state” that led to his attempt to end his own life, linking the “failure and delay” of hostage-deal talks to the attempted suicide.

“The medical team successfully saved the prisoner’s life after his suicide attempt, which was due to his psychological state following new conditions imposed by the Netanyahu government that led to the failure and delay of negotiations for his release,” he said.

Abu Hamza also claimed that the hostage met the criteria for release during the first phase of a possible ceasefire with Israel. “The Zionist prisoner who attempted suicide was scheduled to be released as part of the batch of prisoners meeting the conditions and criteria of the first phase of the exchange deal with the enemy.”

Israel and Hamas have discussed a possible three-phase ceasefire, with female captives, children, the elderly, and the seriously ill being freed during the first stage of the truce.

The Biden administration has also pushed for the inclusion of the remaining American captives in the first stage of a deal.

“As a result of this incident, Saraya Al-Quds issued a decision to tighten security and safety measures for the prisoners,” Abu Hamza added.