Second American held hostage by Hamas dies in Gaza: Report

Judi Weinstein Haggai and her husband, both Israeli Americans, were taken hostage from their community of Kibbutz Nir.

A second American being held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip has died, a report claimed. Judi Weinstein Haggai and her husband, both Israeli Americans, were taken hostage from their community of Kibbutz Nir when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. The couple is said to have disappeared in the fields surrounding Kibbutz Nir Oz and had not been heard from since. Following this, it was announced that Judi Weinstein Haggai- one of eight Americans being held captive by Hamas- had died.

Judih Weinstein and Gad Haggai.

This comes a week after Judi Weinstein Haggai's husband, Gad, died. He was the first American hostage to die amid the war between Israel and Hamas. The six other Americans being held hostage by Hamas include Omer Neutra, Itay Chen, Sagui Dekel-Chen, Edan Alexander, Hersh Goldberg Polin and Keith Samuel Siegel as per Fox News.

The couple is survived by their children.

Following Gad's death, US president Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden said they were "heartbroken."

"Today, we are praying for their four children, seven grandchildren, and other loved ones and are grieving this tragic news with them," Joe Biden said in a statement after he spoke with the couple’s daughter by phone. The US president had then also reaffirmed his pledged to the families of hostages that "we will not stop working to bring them home."

This comes as the UN humanitarian office said that the scale and intensity of ground operations and fighting between Israel and Hamas is having a devastating impact as it is impeding aid deliveries. More than 20,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and children, have been killed since the start of the war. About 1,200 people were killed after Hamas raided southern Israel on October 7, with around 240 people taken hostage.