Illustrative image (The Israeli Defense Forces)
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced on September 1 that it recovered the bodies of six hostages, who were captured alive by the Hamas Movement on October 7, from a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah a few days ago, shortly after they were murdered by their captors.
The hostages were identified by the IDF as Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Ori Danino, 25, Alex Lubnov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40, and Almog Sarusi, 27.
Goldberg-Polin, Yerushalmi, Lubnov, Sarusi and Danino, an off-duty noncommissioned officer, were captured by Hamas fighters from the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im, while Gat was taken from the settlement of Be’eri.
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the six were “brutally murdered” by Hamas fighters shortly before troops arrived, possibly only a day or two before they were found.
“According to an initial assessment… they were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists a short while before we reached them. They were abducted alive on the morning of October 7 by the Hamas terror group,” Hagari said in a press conference.
“Their bodies were found during the fighting in Rafah, in a tunnel, about a kilometer away from the tunnel from which we rescued Farhan al-Qadi a few days ago,” he added.
The IDF did not have the exact location of the hostages but had indications of a general area where the six could be held, and was therefore operating carefully in the area, according to the spokesman.
“Since Farhan was found, troops were given an emphasis on operating carefully even more than usual, because of the understanding that additional hostages may be in the area. We did not have information on the exact location of the hostages,” Hagari said.
Israeli troops began to search a tunnel complex, some 20 meters underground, on August 31 and found the hostages, dead, in the afternoon. Their bodies were extracted from Gaza overnight and brought to Israel for identification.
Following the IDF announcement, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called on Israel’s security cabinet to convene and walk back on a decision to maintain military presence along the Philadelphi Corridor, the Gaza-Egypt border, as part of any potential ceasefire and hostage release deal.
The said Israeli decision is reportedly the main obstacle preventing a deal on Gaza, with both Hamas and Egypt rejecting it.
“The security cabinet must convene immediately and reverse the decision made on Thursday [August 29],” Gallant said on X.
“It is too late for the hostages who were murdered in cold blood. The hostages who remain in Hamas captivity must be returned home,” he added.
The IDF believes that 97 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 33 confirmed dead. A temporary ceasefire in late November saw 105 civilian hostages released from Hamas captivity and four hostages were released before that.
Eight hostages have been rescued by the IDF alive, and the bodies of 37 hostages have also been recovered. Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015. In addition, the bodies of two Israeli soldiers who were killed in 2014 remain in the hands of the group.
Meanwhile, the Israeli war on Gaza has so far claimed the lives of more than 40,700 Palestinains, mostly women and children.
The death of the six hostages could finally force Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to adopt a more realistic approach and accept a deal that would end the war on the Strip.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence
NOW hosted at southfront.press
Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.
The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
