A senior Hamas official has revealed that contact with the field units responsible for guarding Israeli hostages in Gaza was severed about a month ago, according to a report in the Qatari newspaper Al-Arabi Al-Jadid.
The blackout is reportedly part of heightened security measures implemented by the terror group to protect what they consider their most valuable bargaining chips for any future deal, the source told the paper.
The official also claimed that the United States has been applying heavy pressure on mediating countries due to Hamas's refusal to provide information about the hostages' conditions, particularly regarding American citizens being held captive.
According to the source, prior to the U.S. elections, the Biden administration requested information and video footage of Palestinian hostages, but Hamas refused, claiming America had not shown serious enough intention to end the war.
The revelation comes days after Islamic Jihad, another Gaza terror group, released two videos of Israeli hostage Sasha Trufanov. In the second video, Trupanov was seen appealing to Shas party chairman Aryeh Deri, urging him to act for the hostages' release in accordance with the late Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's ruling that "there is no greater mitzvah than redeeming captives."
In what appeared to be a scripted message from his captors, Trufanov pleaded with Deri: "Don't let Netanyahu and the government abandon us and steal our lives. Please don't let our fate be to die here in the darkness of Gaza's tunnels without burial in the land of Israel."
Kikar Shabbat contributed to this article.
