Hamas says a woman taken hostage was killed during an Israeli operation in northern Gaza.
The woman’s identity has not been identified, and there is no clarity on how or when she is said to have died.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it could not yet “confirm or deny” the report, but that its representatives were meeting with the woman’s family.
“This evening the terrorist organization Hamas released a document in which the abducted woman is said to have been killed,” the IDF said in a statement. “We are looking into the details and at this time we cannot confirm or deny.”
Hamas said that communication with the woman’s captors had only recently been restored after several weeks, leading to the discovery of her death.
Abu Ubeida, a spokesman for the Hamas military group, al-Qassam Brigades, said a woman who was attacked by the woman was injured and her life was in danger.
Israeli authorities believe there are around 60 prisoners left in Gaza – with the bodies of many more believed to be dead.
The news came as Israel continued its offensive across Gaza on Saturday.
According to the health ministry of the Hamas-run region, about 120 people were killed by Israeli airstrikes across the region in the last 48 hours.
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 250 others captured.
Nearly 44,000 people have been killed and more than 100,000 injured in Gaza since then, according to the community’s Hamas-run health ministry.