Palestinian police officers loyal to Hamas march during a graduation ceremony in Gaza City, April 29, 2019. Photo: Reuters / Ibraheem Abu Mustafa.

i24 News – The Hamas militant group announced on Sunday that an officer guarding an Israeli prisoner was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the 2021 Gaza war.

According to the group, Israel struck the building where an unnamed Israeli military (IDF) soldier was held, killing one Hamas operative and wounding three other members.

However, while Hamas is understood to be holding two Israeli civilians prisoner, it does not hold any IDF service personnel captive.

The airstrike occurred during the May 2021 clashes between Israel and Gaza — what Israel calls “Operation Guardian of the Walls” — which lasted 11 days before a ceasefire.
Hamas said in the statement they would release the name of the officer killed at a later date. No details were given about the Israeli captive in the incident.

Monday marks eight years since Hadar Goldin was killed and his body taken by Hamas, during Operation Protective Edge in 2014.

Earlier in the war, during the Battle of Shuja’iyya, Oron Shaul was also killed and his body taken by Hamas. Both the bodies of Goldin and Shaul are believed to be held by Hamas.

Later on Sunday, the brother of Goldin, Tzur, tweeted in Arabic, “The doctrine of Hamas is a lie! Hamas will pay a heavy price for every minute my brother is with them.”

Last month, Hamas released footage of Hisham al-Sayed, an Israeli captive, showing him hooked up to a ventilator.

This was the first public sign of life Hamas has provided since his capture in the Gaza Strip seven years ago.

Al-Sayed is a Bedouin man who has been receiving psychiatric care for ten years, according to Haaretz. He crossed into Gaza in April 2015, his third attempt to do so.

According to his father, he briefly served in the IDF for several months, although Hamas refers to him as “a soldier in the occupation army.”