Gaza, Dec 24 : Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, has said that it has lost contact with a group holding five Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip, fearing some of the hostages may have been killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Hamas has issued a statement saying that they have lost contact with the group responsible for five Israeli hostages being held in Gaza Strip.  The group believes the hostages were killed during an Israeli raid, Abu Ubaida, the spokesman of Hamas’ armed wing Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades was quoted as saying.  Israeli strikes kills over 90 Palestinians in two families  Amid the intensifying attacks, over 90 Palestinians of two families were killed in Israeli airstrikes. On Friday, airstrikes flattened two homes, one in Gaza City and the other in the urban refugee camp of Nuseirat in the center of the territory. 

The Gaza City strike killed 76 people from the al-Mughrabi family, making it one of the deadliest of the war, said Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for Gaza's Civil Defence department.  He provided the names of 16 heads of households within the family, and said the dead included women and children.  According to Gaza Health Ministry, over 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s war to destroy Hamas. 

Meanwhile, the Israeli army said over 700 people with alleged ties to the militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad have so far been sent to Israeli lockups.  Israel has said it has arrested 200 members of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups in the past week and taken them into into its territory for questioning.