Abu Obeida, spokesperson of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said in a press statement that efforts are ongoing to re-establish contact with the group.

"It seems that the occupation army is deliberately trying to kill him and hence relieve itself from the pressure caused by the dual-citizen prisoners in order to continue its genocide against our people," the statement added.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli military said it had killed the commander of Hamas's Shuja'iyya battalion in an airstrike in Gaza.

According to a military statement, the Israel Defence Forces and the Shin Bet internal security agency jointly carried out the strike Sunday night.

The commander, Muhammad al-'Ajlah, had previously served as the leader of a combat support company within the battalion. The Israeli military said he was responsible for arming Hamas fighters with weapons.