Gaza doctor murdered Israeli hostage by injecting air into her veins, father claims

The father of an Israeli woman who was abducted by Hamas during the 2023 incursion into southern Israel has claimed his daughter was later murdered by a doctor in Gaza.

Speaking publicly for the first time, Avi Marciano says he was sent a video which showed a medical worker allegedly injecting air into his daughter's veins while she begged for her life.

Nineteen-year-old Noa Marciano was one of 251 people taken as hostages back to Gaza in the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.

She was one of seven female soldiers serving in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) who was kidnapped from the Nahal Oz military base.

She was ultimately held in Gaza city where the Israeli military said she had sustained injuries during bombing but none were considered life-threatening.

"Noa was my eldest daughter and there's not a day when I don't miss her," Marciano said.

Her body was recovered from a building next to the Al-Shifa Hospital where she was allegedly killed and returned to Israel for burial.

Hamas says she died in an air strike, a claim disputed by her father after receiving the video allegedly showing her death on Telegram.

Marciano described seeing the video as the "biggest nightmare you could ever imagine."

Labyrinth of tunnels under Gaza

Meanwhile, earlier this week Israeli soldiers took journalists inside one of the network of underground tunnels constructed and used by Hamas which reportedly criss-cross most of the Gaza Strip.

Soldiers escorted journalists inside one such tunnel in the southern city of Rafah, which they said was one of Hamas' most significant and complex underground routes, connecting cities in the embattled territory and used by top Hamas commanders.

Israel says Hamas kept most of the hostages in such tunnels until all were released as part of ceasefire agreements.

Hamas returned the last living hostages as part of a US-brokered ceasefire, the first phase of which came into force on 10 October ending just over two years of fighting.

Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which operates under the Hamas-run government.

The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says roughly half the dead have been women and children.

Israel and Hamas are on the cusp of finishing the first phase of the truce, which mandated the return of all hostages, living and dead, in exchange for Palestinians held by Israel.

The body of just one more deceased hostage remains to be returned.

Mediators warn the second phase will be far more challenging since it includes tougher issues, such as disarming Hamas and Israel's complete military withdrawal from the strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to travel to Washington later this month to discuss those next steps with US President Donald Trump.