Hamas has indicated it is currently unable to identify and track down 40 Israeli hostages needed for the first phase of a ceasefire deal, according to an Israeli official and a source familiar with the discussions, raising fears that more hostages may be dead than are publicly known.
In that case, they would have used the present simple, “Hamas don’t take hostages”, but they didn’t.
I think you simply misunderstood the original statement.
I could be wrong. I’m happy to take the L. Not a hill I want to die on.