Hamas Says Two More Israeli Hostages Are Dead

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The group said the two were killed by Israeli airstrikes, which the Israeli military said was at least partly false.

Published Jan. 15, 2024Updated Jan. 16, 2024, 10:22 a.m. ETHamas said on Monday that two of the hostages captured on Oct. 7 had been killed in Israeli airstrikes and released images that appeared to show their bodies, but the Israeli military cast doubt on the claim.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, chief spokesman for the Israeli military, said at a press briefing that at least one of the hostages was not killed by its forces. “That’s a Hamas lie,” he said. He did not address the fate of the other hostage.

“We are investigating the event and its circumstances, examining the images distributed by Hamas, alongside additional information at our disposal,” he added.

The claim of the hostages’ deaths, in a video released by Hamas’s military wing, came after two taunting messages from the group promising news on Monday about the fate of three hostages — the two it later said were killed, and a third it said was injured.

A senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel declined to comment on the video, but the Israeli government has condemned such messages as psychological warfare.

The video included clips, apparently recorded earlier, of the two hostages who it claimed were killed, Yossi Sharabi, 53, and Itai Svirsky, 38, speaking while looking into a video camera, and then showed video apparently showing their bodies. It included narration by the hostage who reportedly survived, Noa Argamani, 26, who told of her companions’ deaths and described being wounded, herself.

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