Amid relentless Israeli military aggression on Gaza, the al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, announced Tuesday evening that it has lost contact with the unit assigned to guard Israeli soldier Rom Bresslavsky. The development follows an intense wave of incursions by occupation forces targeting areas where captives were believed to be held.

In a statement issued via Telegram, the group's spokesperson Abu Hamza confirmed, "Since yesterday, contact has been lost with the security group holding the soldier Rom Bresslavsky, following the occupation forces' incursion and their siege of areas where the captive was located. We do not know their fate at this moment."

The statement accused the Israeli government of deliberately endangering its own citizens held in Gaza. "Since the beginning of the genocidal war against our people, the criminal Netanyahu and his extremist far-right government have deliberately ignored the issue of their captives and are actively seeking to kill them and return them to their families in coffins," Abu Hamza declared.

Bresslavsky, whose captivity had been previously confirmed, appeared in a video released by the Al-Quds Brigades on April 16, where he directly addressed Prime Minister Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump. "My blood is on your hands, Prime Minister Netanyahu. Where are your promises to free us?" he asked. The captive also described dire conditions in detention and appealed for immediate action, saying, "You must stop this stupid war. You have failed. End this nightmare—or at least bring food into Gaza so that some of it can reach us."

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Captives demand justice

His earlier message echoed growing discontent within Israeli society. In April, hundreds of reservists, naval officers, and physicians signed public letters calling for an end to the war, arguing that military escalation was only increasing the risk to captives. These voices of dissent cited the deaths of at least 40 Israeli captives during the ground invasion as evidence of Netanyahu's disregard for human life—Palestinian and Israeli alike.

Meanwhile, the Resistance continues to assert that Israel's military approach has failed to secure the release of captives. In a July 18 statement, Hamas declared that the only viable option left is a prisoner exchange under the Resistance's terms. "No prisoner has ever been freed through military pressure," Bresslavsky had warned months earlier, a view now reinforced by battlefield realities.

Read more: Israeli families slam Netanyahu, oppose partial captive return deal

The loss of contact with the unit guarding Bresslavsky comes amid "Israel's" continued assault on Gaza, where thousands of civilians have been killed, and critical infrastructure destroyed under the pretext of captives' recovery. For many Palestinians, this incident is yet another indication that the Israeli leadership views its own soldiers as disposable, sacrificing them in a futile bid to crush resistance.

As the humanitarian catastrophe deepens, and captives' voices go unanswered, the Resistance's message remains clear: the occupation will not recover its prisoners through bombs—but only through justice.