JERUSALEM

An investigation by the Israeli army revealed that an Israeli hostage was killed last month in an army airstrike that targeted a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, Israeli media reported on Friday. 

“The air forces would not have attacked the house in the Nuseirat camp had they been aware of the hostage Yossi Sharabi's presence at the target,” Israeli Channel 13 reported, quoting unnamed army officials.

Albeit investigations into Sharabi's death revealed that he was killed in an Israeli army airstrike, the broadcaster cited an official statement from Tel Aviv, claiming that "he may have been killed by Hamas fighters."

Hamas' military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, has already said that several Israeli hostages have been killed or injured during army strikes on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7.

Last December, the army acknowledged that three Israeli hostages held captive by Hamas were killed by “friendly fire” due to misidentification.

Hamas is believed to be holding nearly 136 Israeli hostages in the blockaded territory following its cross-border attack on Oct. 7.

Despite the International Court of Justice’s provisional ruling, Israel continues its onslaught on the Gaza Strip where at least 27,947 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 67,459 injured since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio