The IDF says it is "assessing the accuracy of the information" after previous false reports that hostages had been killed.
Hamas has claimed its youngest hostage - a 10-month-old boy - has been killed along with his four-year-old brother and their mother.
Shiri Bibas and Kfir and Ariel Bibas were taken during the terror attack on Israel in October and were the highest-profile civilian hostages yet to be freed.
"There have been occasions in the last week or so when hostages who had been declared dead by one of the armed groups in Gaza actually turned out not to have died - and have subsequently been released," said Bunkall.
It's bizarre for an article to quote her here without the article talking about any examples.
The only instance of this I can recall off the top of my head is PIJ claiming that Hanna Katzir was killed. Hamas have not publicly announced the death of any hostages in ways that have been confirmed or reported by respectable journalists, but there is lots of propaganda being spread through Telegram and other platforms.
declaring them dead means they have to give up the bodies. but terrorist think if they declare them dead they can keep them for future demands or exchanges. so both cases are possible but hamas being experineced in this maccabre trade knows that dead means handing over the bodies, otherwise no peace.
The group's armed wing, al Qassam Brigades, said on social media that Mrs Bibas, 32, and her sons died in an Israeli airstrike before the current ceasefire.
"IDF representatives spoke with the members of the Bibas family, informed them of the publication [of the claims] and are with them at this time," a statement read.
Relatives made a special appeal on Tuesday after the family was left off the penultimate list of people to be freed under the current truce deal.
"We reach a dead end every time we try to figure out why Hamas is having so much trouble getting them back, or whether that means if they're alive or not," she said.
Sky's Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall said the family would now be desperately hoping the Hamas claim is false.
"There have been occasions in the last week or so when hostages who had been declared dead by one of the armed groups in Gaza actually turned out not to have died - and have subsequently been released," said Bunkall.
The original article contains 445 words, the summary contains 173 words. Saved 61%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!