An Israeli hostage held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip tried to take his own life, the spokesman for the terrorist group’s armed wing, Abu Hamza, claimed in a video published on Telegram on Thursday.
A medical team from the organization reportedly intervened and prevented him from dying, the spokesman said, without giving more details about the hostage’s identity or current condition.
The hostage may have tried to commit suicide due to his psychological condition, Abu Hamza said, accusing the Israeli government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of imposing new conditions that led to the “failure and delay” of negotiations over the release of hostages.
The man was on the list of hostages to be released under the terms of the first phase of a possible deal with Israel, he claimed. The terrorist group’s armed wing decided to strengthen security monitoring of the hostages, Abu Hamza added.
In July, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed that several Israeli hostages attempted suicide after it said the terrorist group began treating them in the same way Israel treated Palestinian prisoners.