By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Israel’s military has released video footage of a Gaza tunnel where it says six hostages were recently killed by the Islamic Palestinian group Hamas.
Hostages Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat, and Almog Sarusi were reportedly executed there by their captors on the night of August 29.
Troops discovered their bodies on August 31, said Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.
Alongside the footage, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released new details of the tunnel and the operation to find the bodies of the six murdered Israelis.
The killed hostages were being held only some 700 meters away (2,300 feet) from where another hostage had been rescued alive days earlier.
The video shows a low, narrow underground passageway with no bathroom and poor ventilation.
Israeli military spokesman Hagari announced Tuesday that the footage of the Gaza tunnel had been shown to the hostages’ families and that it “was very hard for them to see how their loved ones survived in those conditions.”
HAMAS GUNMEN
Hagari said at least two Hamas gunmen shot them dead in the tunnel, which is 20 meters (66 feet) below ground, less than 170 centimeters (5.6 feet) high, and about 80 centimeters (32 inches) wide.
It has an exit shaft used by the militants below a children’s room in a house.
The hostages had likely been held in the dank tunnel, where it is hard to breathe and to stand up straight, for some time, possibly weeks, Hagari recalled.
A version of the video with English narration shows Kalashnikov rifle magazines, bags containing plastic bottles filled with urine, and a bucket in a hole that served as a toilet.
Women’s clothing is strewn on the ground. The Hebrew version, broadcast live on Israeli television channels, also shows a chess set.
The tunnel network was one of the largest underground complexes found by the army in Gaza to date, Israeli media quoted military sources as saying.
The hostages had likely been held in the dank tunnel, where it is hard to breathe and to stand up straight, for some time, possibly weeks, Hagari added.
KALASHNIKOV RIFLES
A version of the video with English narration shows Kalashnikov rifle magazines, bags containing plastic bottles filled with urine, and a bucket in a hole that served as a toilet.
Women’s clothing is strewn on the ground. The Hebrew version, broadcast live on Israeli television channels, also shows a chess set.
Military sources said the tunnel network was one of the largest underground complexes the army has found in Gaza to date.
“The tunnel shaft was in a children’s room, in a house,” Hagari said in the video, pointing to Disney characters painted on the walls above the 20-meter-deep shaft. “Snow White and Mickey Mouse on the wall, [above] a tunnel shaft, where the hostages were murdered downstairs,” he stressed.
“Here, you see their blood on the floor. Here you see their last moments, and here they were brutally murdered,” a visibly sweating Hagari said in a Hebrew-language version of the video while inside the tunnel.
The discovery of the hostages’ bodies last month sparked a mass outpouring of anger in Israel.
Observers said the release of the new video could add to the pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a cease-fire deal with Hamas to bring the remaining hostages home.
MANY DAYS
It’s been more than 330 days since Hamas took hundreds of people hostage on October 7.
About 250 people were abducted during the attack and 1,200 killed, according to Israeli figures.
Israel launched a military offensive in the Gaza Strip after the attacks, which Hamas-run authorities claim have killed some 41,000 Palestinians.
Since October 7, more than 100 hostages have been released, eight have been rescued, and nearly a dozen bodies have been recovered.
Some have even been returned home and laid to rest.
Before the bodies of six more hostages were recovered over the weekend, Israel authorities believed about 70 captives left in Gaza were still alive, though U.S. officials suggested that figure may be lower.
Renewed ceasefire talks have so far failed to produce visible results.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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