Demonstrators gather during an anti-government protest organized by the families of the Israeli hostages in Tel Aviv on Sept. 27, 2025. (Credit: Jack Guez/AFP)
Hamas's armed wing urged the Israeli military to temporarily halt air strikes and withdraw from part of Gaza City on Sunday as it tried to locate two Israeli hostages it said it had lost contact with.
"The lives of the two prisoners are in real danger, and [Israeli] forces must immediately withdraw to the south of Street 8 and halt aerial operations for 24 hours starting from 6 p.m. today to allow attempts to rescue the prisoners," the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement.
In an earlier announcement, the armed group said the loss of contact was due to Israeli military operations over the previous 48 hours in two southern Gaza City neighborhoods where Israeli forces have stepped up air and ground assaults.
In the past, Hamas announced that it had lost contact with an Israeli-American hostage, who was released a few days after that announcement.
On Sunday, Gaza's civil defence agency said 38 people had been killed by Israeli fire, including 14 in Gaza City.
Of the 251 people taken hostage during the Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, attack, 47 remain held in Gaza, including 25, who the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 66,005 people, mostly civilians, according to Gaza's health ministry, which the U.N. deems reliable.
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