Hamas Accuses Israeli Forces of Killing Prisoners During Hostage Release

The Palestinian Hamas movement has announced that three prisoners were killed by Israeli Defense Forces during the release of four hostages. According to a statement from the movement's press service, one of the deceased was a U.S. citizen.

“Just so you know, in response, your own army killed your three hostages in the same refugee camp, one of whom had American citizenship,” the movement reported on its Telegram channel.

Hamas did not specify the names of the hostages it claimed were killed during the hostage release. At the same time, the movement published videos showing the faces of the three slain prisoners obscured.

On June 8, Israeli soldiers carried out an operation in the Gaza Strip that resulted in the release of Israeli hostages Noa Argamani, Almog Meirin, Shlomi Ziv, and Andrey Kozlov, who also holds Russian citizenship. They had been held captive by Hamas since October 7. The Palestinian movement stated that 210 people were killed during the hostages' release.