The Israeli army on Friday acknowledged the failure of an operation to free hostages in the Gaza Strip, in which two soldiers were seriously wounded and one hostage was killed, according to the Palestinian movement Hamas, AFP reported.

In response to the Islamist movement’s unprecedented deadly attack on Israeli territory on October 7, in which 240 people were kidnapped, the Israeli military is carrying out airstrikes and ground operations in the Gaza Strip to “destroy” Hamas and free the hostages.

“On the night (from Thursday to Friday) two Israeli soldiers were seriously injured during an operation to rescue hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip,” the army said in a statement.

“Not a single hostage was rescued,” he added, stating that “numerous terrorists involved in the kidnapping and guarding of the hostages were destroyed during the operation.”

The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, announced that they “succeeded in thwarting an Israeli attempt to free the hostage by observing members of the Israeli special forces moving into the center of the Gaza Strip” and who “… they slipped into an ambulance.”

In the statement, this source reported an “intense firefight”, one soldier was wounded, and the hostage was “declared dead”.

Hamas then released a video showing several bloodstains on the floor of a house and a bullet, followed by a man’s body.

The footage also shows Israeli weapons and equipment that Hamas claims to have seized during the incident.

According to Brigadier General Ezzedine al-Qassam, Israeli warplanes launched heavy bombing raids across the area to allow the special forces to leave.

According to the Israeli government, 138 hostages are still being held in Gaza after the release of 105 hostages in late November as part of a seven-day truce, including 80 in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

In total, according to the army, 93 Israeli soldiers were killed in the fighting in Gaza.

According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, 17,490 people died in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israeli bombing, more than two-thirds of whom were women and youth under the age of 18.

According to the Israeli authorities, an unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israeli territory on October 7 resulted in the death of 1,200 people, mostly civilians.