Hamas says guard who killed Israeli hostage acted after learning of death of his children

The group announced it would change instructions given to those holding hostages

Supporters and relatives of Israelis held hostage in Gaza demand their release near the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem. AFP

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A Hamas member who killed an Israeli hostage in Gaza acted after receiving news of the death of two of his children in an Israeli strike, the militant group said in a statement on Thursday.

Hamas had announced on Monday that one hostage, who it did not name, was killed and two injured in separate incidents at the hands of their guards, sharing a photo of a body with its statement. It did not specify when the incidents took place and the Israeli military said at the time it could neither refute nor corroborate the claims.

On Thursday, the group said it would make changes to instructions given to those holding hostages, 10 months after abducting about 250 people in the October 7 incursion into southern Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza. More than 1,200 Israelis were killed in that attack.

"The soldier assigned as a guard acted in a retaliatory manner, against instructions, after he received information that his two children were martyred in one of the massacres conducted by the enemy," spokesman of the group's armed wing Abu Ubaida said on Telegram, without specifying what the consequences would be for the guard.

"The incident does not represent our ethics and religious teachings in dealing with prisoners and we will be even more firm with our instructions after the incident was repeated in two cases so far."

More than 100 Israelis and foreign citizens are thought to be held hostage in Gaza but their status is unknown. Hamas has said any harm that comes to captives would be "the fault" of Israel.

Talks on a ceasefire in Gaza began in Doha on Thursday, without the participation of Hamas, which has abstained in protest over new Israeli demands to the US proposal and a refusal to stop its aerial bombardment of Gaza for the duration of any talks.

More than 40,000 Palestinians, 70 per cent of them women and children, have been killed since October 7, the strip's Ministry of Health said on Thursday, after 40 people were killed in air strikes overnight.

At least 92,400 people have been injured in Israeli attacks, the ministry said. At least 630 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, and more than 10,000 people have been detained, prisoner rights groups have said.