Hamas ‘lost contact’ with group holding Gaza captive after Israeli attack

Hamas says Israeli bombing resulted in loss of contact with group guarding Israeli-American captive Edan Alexander.
The armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas says it has lost contact with a group holding Israeli-US captive Edan Alexander in the Gaza Strip after “direct Israeli bombardment” targeted the area where he was being held. “It seems that the occupation army is deliberately trying to kill him and hence relieve themselves from the pressure caused by the dual-citizen prisoners in order to continue its genocide against our people,” Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Qassam Brigades, said on Tuesday.
On Saturday, Hamas had released a video showing Alexander – a New Jersey native and a 21-year-old soldier in the Israeli army – alive. Alexander appeared to be under duress in the video and appealed to US President Donald Trump to get him out of Gaza and urged the US president not to believe “lies” told by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In his latest statement, Abu Obeida did not say where Alexander was being held in Gaza. The group’s armed wing later released a video warning families of the captives that their “children will return in black coffins with their bodies torn apart from shrapnel from your army”. Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, said Palestinians across the enclave believe that the US “has an interest” in securing Alexander’s release in a negotiated deal.“They believe this will increase pressure on the Israeli government to speed up the process and come to an agreement,” Mahmoud said. “If it is confirmed that Alexander has been killed, then the Palestinian groups will lose what they hoped would be a lever of pressure against the Netanyahu government to get him to sign a ceasefire agreement.” …Source: aljazeera.com/news