Hamas claims it captured Israeli soldiers, but denies this

A new confrontation between declarations in the midst of the war in the Gaza Strip. Hamas’ armed wing said it captured Israeli soldiers in an ambush on Saturday at the Jabaliya camp in the Palestinian enclave, inside Israeli army territory, which denied the claim.

According to the Palestinian Islamist movement, Israeli forces were in a tunnel in the Jabaliya camp and “all their members were killed, wounded or captured.” Hamas militants “seized their military equipment” before “blowing up the tunnel,” said Abu Obeida, a spokesman for its armed wing. He also broadcast footage of a man portrayed as a captured Israeli soldier being pulled to the ground. These images could not immediately be confirmed.

According to the IDF, not a single soldier was “kidnapped”

The Israeli army wanted to “make clear that there was no incident in which a soldier was kidnapped,” without providing details about possible soldiers killed or wounded. According to the latest figures from Israeli authorities, dated mid-May, more than 600 Israeli soldiers have been killed since Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, with just over half killed during the Islamist movement’s armed incursion into Israel. AP agency reports this.

The IDF also continued its bombing of Rafah on Saturday despite a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN’s highest court, to immediately halt its operations in the city in the southern Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of people have fled. Israel assured that it “has not and will not conduct military operations in the Rafah area” that could “result in the destruction of the Palestinian civilian population.”

At the same time, international efforts were renewed to secure a truce in Israel’s deadly response to Gaza and the release of more than 100 hostages still held in Palestinian territory. On Saturday, an Israeli official said the government intended to resume stalled negotiations “this week.”