Abu Obaida, the official spokesman for the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, stated that a committee has been formed to investigate the separate incidents in Gaza and the details of the probe will be announced later. He added that efforts are underway to save the lives of the two injured women. (Related: Israeli airstrike on Gaza refugee camp in Rafah decapitates small child, kills dozens.)
"The enemy government [Israel] bears full responsibility for these massacres and the resulting reactions that affect the lives of Zionist prisoners," he said in a statement posted on Telegram. The statement provided no further details, leaving the condition of the female captives unclear.
This marks the first time that the Qassam Brigades publicly acknowledged that one of its guards killed an Israeli captive.
The killing of the captive followed an Israeli airstrike on a school housing displaced Palestinians, which killed at least 100 people. The airstrike occurred in Gaza City on Aug. 10 while the Palestinians were performing dawn prayers.
"The bodies of the people who were killed are placed everywhere in the yards of the hospital and their loved ones are bidding them farewell," said Dalloul, a resident of Gaza City who went to the school following the massacre. "Israel keeps targeting shelters, but people continue to shelter in these places because their homes have been destroyed in repeated Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip."
Additionally, a Palestinian Civil Defense worker stated that "most of those killed were children and elderly people," with the victims reduced to shreds and burned body parts due to the intensity of the airstrike.
Israel claimed the prayer hall housed a "military facility" and that 31 of those killed were "terrorists." However, a preliminary investigation by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor found several inaccuracies in the list of names provided by the military as "terrorists" killed.
At least three of the individuals listed had been killed in earlier strikes during the war. The list also included the names of three elderly civilians with no military connections, including a school principal, the deputy mayor of Beit Hanoun and a university professor.
The incident also came after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in what the group said was an Israeli strike in Tehran, where Haniyeh was attending the swearing-in ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
These Israeli strikes, along with the global silence and Western support, triggered the recent killing of the Palestinian captive.
Read more news about the escalating conflict between Israel and its neighbors in the Middle East at WWIII.news.
Watch this episode of the "Health Ranger Report" as Mike Adams interviews author Daniel Kovalik about the case for supporting Palestine.
This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.
Looking for more trouble? Israeli airstrikes hit Damascus amid escalating Israel-Hamas war.
Netanyahu: Israel to take over "security" in Gaza after the Israel-Hamas war.
Iranian Foreign Minister warns U.S. “will not be spared” if the Israel-Hamas war escalates.
Sources include: