Hamas has accused Israel of disseminating “baseless lies” regarding a mother and her two children who died while in captivity in Gaza after Israel said the Bibas family was killed by fighters, AFP reports.

“The false allegations that the criminal (Israeli) occupation is disseminating about the death of the Bibas children at the hands of their captors are merely baseless lies and fabrications,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said in a statement.

The Palestinian group has long maintained that an Israeli air strike killed Shiri Bibas and her infant sons, Kfir and Ariel, early in the conflict.