A female prisoner’s location was hit in an IDF airstrike on Gaza just hours after a ceasefire deal announcement, according to a spokesman of the militants
The military arm of Hamas has said that an Israeli strike on Gaza that followed the announcement of a ceasefire deal had targeted a place where a female hostage was being held.
The agreement to pause the war in Gaza and release Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners was announced on Wednesday by US President-elect Donald Trump. The deal is expected to come into effect on January 19 and include three phases, each of which will last 42 days.
Three female hostages are expected to be released on Sunday if the deal goes into effect as planned. They would be the first of 33 hostages in Gaza, both living and deceased, to be released as part of the first phase.
In a Telegram post on Thursday, Al-Qassam Brigades Military Spokesman Abu Ubaida claimed that the woman targeted in the Israeli strike was one of the hostages expected to be freed this week.
“Any aggression and shelling at this stage by the enemy could turn the freedom of a prisoner into a tragedy,” the spokesman stated without giving any more details regarding the hostage’s fate.
Israel intensified its airstrikes across Gaza just hours after the ceasefire and hostage release deal was announced, killing at least 70 people overnight, according to the enclave’s health officials. The attacks came as people there took to the streets to celebrate the truce.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told CNN on Thursday they had “conducted strikes on approximately 50 terror targets across the Gaza Strip” over the past day. The IDF also blamed Hamas for firing a rocket into Israel on Thursday; the incident caused no casualties.
On Thursday, Israel delayed a cabinet vote on the ceasefire deal, blaming Hamas for reneging on parts of the agreement. The militant group has rejected the claims.
Some media have attributed the failure to ratify the agreement to opposition from key parties in Israel’s governing coalition. The Religious Zionism Party and its leader, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have condemned the deal and threatened to quit if the Jewish state does not return to war after the first stage of the ceasefire.
The Israeli cabinet is set to meet on Friday, according to media reports.
