The armed wing of Hamas has lost contact with two hostages, Matan Angrest and Omri Miran, during Israeli military operations in two neighborhoods of Gaza City. Omri Miran was kidnapped from his home at Kibbutz Nahal Oz in front of his family during Hamas’s unprecedented attack on October 7, 2024. According to the Jerusalem Post, last February, his family stated they received a sign of life from him through another hostage who was released in a previous agreement. Matan Angrest is an Israel Defense Forces soldier who was abducted from the Gaza border on October 7. His family has reported that he has been seriously injured and tortured during his captivity.
In their statement, the Al-Qassam Brigades said they asked Israel to stop airstrikes for 24 hours, starting at 6 PM, in part of Gaza City to remove all hostages from danger. “The Al-Qassam Brigades announce that they have lost contact with two detainees (…) following the brutal military operations and violent attacks in the Sabra and Tal al-Hawa neighborhoods over the past 48 hours,” the statement read. “The lives of the two detainees are in real danger and the (Israeli) forces must immediately withdraw from the southern section of Route 8 and stop aerial operations for 24 hours, from 6 PM today, to allow rescue efforts for the detainees,” the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades wrote in another announcement.
Previously, the Islamist organization had already announced that it had lost contact with an Israeli-American hostage, whom it released a few days later.
Hamas: Netanyahu has decided to kill the hostages
With the Israeli ground operation to capture Gaza City underway, hostage families fear more than ever for their relatives’ lives.
Hamas continues to hold 48 hostages in Gaza, of whom 20 are believed to still be alive. Some of them are being held in Gaza City and many analysts and officials have expressed fears that their lives are now seriously endangered by the Israeli assault.
Last week, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades announced they would “not be concerned with the lives of hostages” in Gaza as long as Israel’s military operations continue.
“Your detainees are distributed in the neighborhoods of Gaza City and we will not worry about their lives, since Netanyahu has decided to kill them,” the Al-Qassam Brigades said, CNN reported at the time.
Hamas claimed that as long as the Israel Defense Forces’ Operation “Swords of Gideon II” continues to seize control of Gaza City, Israel will not receive any of its hostages.
Israeli battle tanks are advancing deeper into Gaza City today – in the Sabra, Tel Al-Hawa, Sheikh Radwan and Al Nasser neighborhoods, approaching the center and western areas of the city.
Meanwhile, in the last 24 hours, the air force struck 140 military targets along Gaza with casualties rising to at least 77 dead, including women and children.
Late last night, Gaza’s emergency service reported that Israel refused 73 requests, sent through international organizations, to rescue wounded Palestinians in Gaza City.
