Hamas says fate of hostage depends on Netanyahu

Palestinian group Hamas on Saturday said the fate of a hostage held in Gaza depends on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a day after the captive's wife appealed to the group for proof of life.

Sharon Cunio had directly addressed the group in Arabic in a video on Friday, asking for a sign that her husband David was still alive, over 450 days after he was taken to the Palestinian territory.

She too had been kidnapped alongside 250 others on October 7, 2023, but was released the following month alongside their twin daughters during the sole brief truce in the war that has raged for over 15 months.

Hamas's armed branch on Saturday said that that since Sharon's liberation, Israeli military pressure had surged and that her husband has "either been killed, injured or (is) in good health".

"Netanyahu has not decided yet. Time is running out," the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades added.

Stop-start negotiations have been underway seeking an end to the devastating war and the release of the remaining hostages, with the latest round starting last weekend in Qatar.

But both Hamas and Israel have repeatedly accused one another of seeking to derail the indirect talks.

There are currently 94 hostages still held in Gaza, including 34 whose death has been confirmed by the Israeli army.

The October 7 attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which includes hostages killed in captivity.

At least 46,537 Palestinians, a majority of them civilians, have been killed in Israel's military campaign in Gaza since the war began, according to data provided by the health ministry. The United Nations has acknowledged these figures as reliable.

Agence France-Presse