Days after Hamas admitted one of its terrorists murdered an Israeli captive in Gaza and wounded two others, the group distances itself from the killings, claiming they were in violation of its instructions.
By World Israel News Staff
The Hamas terror organization distanced itself Thursday from the murder of an Israeli man held captive in the Gaza Strip earlier this week.
On Monday, the terror group announced via its Telegram channel that a member of Hamas assigned to guard several Israeli captives had killed one and wounded two female hostages.
Initially, Hamas spokesman Hudayfa Samir Abdallah al-Kahlout, better known by his nom de guerre Abu Obaida, blamed Israel for the incident.
“The enemy government [Israel] bears full responsibility for these massacres and the resulting reactions that affect the lives of Zionist prisoners.”
In a subsequent string of Telegram messages, Abu Obaida continued to blame Israel for the captive’s killing, but also appeared to distance Hamas from the murder, claiming the guard acted “contrary to instructions” and out of a personal desire for vengeance, after two of his children were allegedly killed in an IDF strike.
“After investigating the killing of an enemy prisoner by his guard, it became clear that the [Hamas] soldier in charge of the watch acted in a vengeful manner, contrary to instructions, after receiving news of the martyrdom of his two children in one of the enemy’s massacres,” Abu Obaida wrote.
“We stress that the incident does not represent our ethics and religious teachings in dealing with prisoners, and we will tighten the instructions after the incident is repeated in two cases so far.”
“We hold the enemy fully responsible for all the suffering and dangers that its prisoners are exposed to as a result of its violation of all the rules of humane and humanitarian treatment and its practice of brutal genocide against our people.”
The IDF said this week that it can neither confirm nor deny Hamas’ claim regarding the killing of the hostage and wounding of two other captives.
There are 115 captives still held in the Gaza Strip 10 months after the October 7th invasion.
It is unclear how many of those remaining 115 hostages are still alive.