BY REUTERS |
Negotiations between Israel and Hamas to extend the Gaza truce were overshadowed at the last minute on Wednesday by an unconfirmed claim by Hamas that a family of Israeli hostages including a 10-month old baby had been killed.
Shortly before the final release of women and children hostages scheduled under the truce, the military wing of Hamas said the youngest hostage, baby Kfir Bibas, had been killed in an earlier Israeli bombing, along with his four-year-old brother Ariel and their mother. Their father, who has also been held, was not mentioned in the statement.
Israeli officials said they were checking the Hamas claim, a highly emotive issue in Israel where the family is among the highest-profile civilian hostages yet to be freed.
Lt-Col Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), said the military was also seeking to clarify the situation.
“We have engaged with the family, met with the family, are comforting the family because of this tragic announcement that was made to the family, making it even more difficult times for them,” he told MSNBC.
Relatives had issued a special appeal for the family’s freedom after the children and their parents were excluded from the penultimate group freed on Tuesday.
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