Hamas on Sunday released a video featuring three Israeli hostages that it is holding in Gaza, who are pleading their government to halt the offensive against the Palestinian group and arrange for their release, as both sides commemorated the 100th day of Israel's war on Gaza.
The chyron at the end of the 37-second, undated video, featuring 26-year-old Noa Argamani, 53-year-old Yossi Sharabi, and 38-year-old Itai Svirsky read: "Tomorrow we will inform you of their fate."
As Israeli forces shelled Gaza earlier on Sunday, Hamas announced that it had lost communication with some of the hostages and that they may have been killed in the process.
Generally, Israeli officials have refrained from answering Hamas' public statements regarding the hostages, characterising them as psychological warfare. Israel's Health Ministry forensic officer Hagar Mizrahi stated on local television on December 31 that the autopsies of dead hostages showed results that did not match Hamas' claim that they had died in airstrikes.
However, Israel has also stated emphatically that it is taking safety measures and is cognizant of the threats its attacks on Gaza pose to hostages.
"The military operation takes time. It obligates us to be precise, and we are adapting it in accordance with the threats and the hostages who are in the field," central spokesperson for the armed forces, Rear-Admiral Daniel Hagari, has said.
About half of the 240 individuals that Hamas kidnapped during its cross-border killing spree on October 7, which ignited the conflict, were freed under a truce in November. Moreover, Israel claims that 25 of the 132 people who are still in captivity have died.
Israelis, still in shock following the deadliest attack in their history, are engrossed in the hostage situation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been called on by families of some hostages to declare another ceasefire or even to end the war. He declared that he would not give up until Hamas was destroyed, claiming that doing so would allow the hostages to be freed.
Netanyahu stated in parliament last month that he had requested Beijing to assist in Argamani's release. Argamani's mother Liora is Chinese.
