A female Israeli hostage was killed in an area of north Gaza when Israeli strikes pounded the region, a spokesperson for Hamas claimed today.

Abu Obeida, the spokesperson for Hamas’ armed wing, said that they had learned of the unnamed hostage’s fate after re-establishing contact with ‘those assigned to protect the captives’ ‘weeks’ after the strikes in northern Gaza Strip.

It was not clear from the statement when the strikes were to have taken place.

‘The life of another female prisoner who used to be with her remains in imminent danger,’ he added, accusing the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being responsible and of undermining efforts to end the war.

Israel has not commented on the alleged death of the hostage, nor the alleged condition of the hostage still fighting for her life following the strikes.

Hamas took 251 hostages during its assault into southern Israel last October. Of those, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 34 who have been confirmed dead.

A group representing hostages’ families did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Months of attempts to negotiate a ceasefire to release the remaining hostages have yielded scant progress and negotiations are now on hold, with mediator Qatar having suspended its efforts until the sides are prepared to make concessions.

Hamas wants a deal that ends the conflict, and leads to the release of Israeli and foreign hostages held captive in Gaza as well as Palestinians jailed by Israel, while Netanyahu has said the war can end only once Hamas is eradicated.

The war was launched in response to an attack by Hamas-led fighters who killed 1,200 people and captured more than 250 hostages in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has said.

Israel’s 13-month campaign in Gaza has killed more than 44,000 people and displaced nearly all the enclave’s population at least once, according to Gaza officials.

Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 120 Palestinians over the last 48 hours and hit a hospital on the northern edge of the enclave, wounding medical staff and damaging equipment, Palestinian medics said on Saturday.

Among the dead were seven members of one family whose house was hit overnight in the Zeitoun suburb of Gaza City, the health officials said.

The rest were killed in separate Israeli strikes in central and southern Gaza.

At the same time, Israeli forces deepened their incursion and bombardment of the northern edge of the enclave, their main offensive since early last month.

Israel’s military says it aims to prevent Hamas fighters from waging attacks and regrouping in the area.

Local residents say they fear the aim is to permanently depopulate a strip of territory as a buffer zone, which Israel denies.

At Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of three medical facilities on the northern edge of Gaza that is barely operational, director Hussam Abu Safiya said the ongoing Israeli bombardment appeared aimed at forcing hospital staff to evacuate – something they have refused to do since the incursion began.

‘Yesterday (Friday), from the afternoon until midnight, the bombardment directly targeted the entrance to the emergency and reception area several times,’ he said in a statement, adding that 12 staff members including doctors and nurses were injured.

The strike also caused significant damage that disrupted the electrical generator, oxygen supply network and water supply, he added.

Asked to comment on Abu Safiya’s statement, the Israeli military said that following an initial review it was ‘not aware of a strike in the area of the Kamal Adwan Hospital’, adding that it does everything possible to avoid harming civilians.

Israel says Hamas uses hospitals and civilians as human shields, and has made public videos and photos to support that claim. Hamas rejects the allegations and says it does not use the civilian population or facilities for military purposes.

A powerful airstrike meanwhile killed 15 people in central Beirut on Saturday and 13 others were killed in attacks northeast of the Lebanese capital, the health ministry said, as Israel pressed its offensive against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

Eight of the victims, four of them children, were killed in a strike on the village of Chimstar and five people died in an attack on the village of Bodai, the ministry said. Both villages are in the Baalbek district.

In Beirut, an eight-storey building was struck with four missiles, including bunker-penetrating types designed to hit underground targets, said a Lebanese security source.

Israel has used bunker-busting weapons to kill senior Hezbollah figures, including its veteran leader Hassan Nasrallah in a strike on southern Beirut in September.

At the site of the Israeli strike in central Beirut, Amin Chirri, a member of parliament representing Hezbollah, said there had been no Hezbollah leader in the building that was struck. The Israeli military made no immediate comment.