Not good.

Gaza City (AFP) – The armed wing of the Palestinian Hamas group claimed on Sunday night that it had kidnapped an Israeli soldier, prompting celebrations in the streets of Gaza City.

“The Israeli soldier Shaul Aaron is in the hands of the Qassam Brigades,” a spokesman using the nom-de-guerre Abu Obeida said in a televised address.

A spokeswoman for the Israeli military said they were aware of the claim and were investigating.

AFP correspondents said there were celebrations in Gaza City, as well as in the streets of the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Hebron following the announcement from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, with Palestinians firing guns in the air and praising Hamas.

The Qassam Brigades said the soldier had been kidnapped 24 hours earlier during an ambush on Israeli forces in the Tuffah district on the eastern edges of Gaza City.

There has been heavy fighting on the eastern edges of Gaza, with Israel saying Sunday that 13 soldiers had been killed in violence overnight.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri hailed the news in a statement.

“The announcement by the Qassam Brigades of the capture of a Zionist soldier is a great victory and revenge for the blood of the martyrs,” he said.

Update:

At this point, Israel is denying anyone was kidnapped.

Via Sky News:

Israel’s UN Ambassador denies reports that Hamas’ armed wing has captured an Israeli soldier, amid an assault on the Gaza Strip that has killed at least 100 Palestinians.

Ron Prosor told reporters at the United Nations where an emergency meeting on the crisis is taking place: “There’s no kidnapped Israeli soldier and those rumours are untrue.”

Earlier, masked spokesman Abu Ubaida, speaking on a Hamas television station, claimed: “We have captured a Zionist soldier and the occupation has not admitted that.”