The Israeli military announced on Sunday that five hostages, who were killed while in Hamas captivity, were discovered in an underground tunnel network in the northern Gaza Strip. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the chief military spokesperson, mentioned that post-mortems are currently pending.
“We will inform the families first and then, contingent on their approval, share the details publicly,” stated Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the chief military spokesperson. The three soldiers and two civilians were part of the 240 individuals taken back to the Gaza Strip by Hamas gunmen during the cross-border incident on October 7, which ignited the conflict.
In a video military engineers were showcased navigating a dark and dusty two-story tunnel network, with one level situated 10 meters down and the other extending “dozens of meters” deeper. The Israeli military indicated that one of the tunnels led to the residence of Ahmad Al Ghandour, chief of Hamas’ North Gaza brigade.
The footage displayed a segment of the tunnel adorned with white tiles, featuring a bathroom equipped with a basic shower, toilet, and sink. Additionally, a workroom with a corner table and bench was shown in the video, along with a tunnel containing a drinking water dispenser and a stack of bullets.
In a development last week, Hamas released a video depicting three hostages alive in what seemed to be a narrow, white-tiled, and windowless bedroom, equipped with an electric wall socket. In a Hebrew chyron, the Islamist group asserted, “Your military weapons killed the three.”
Hamas had previously claimed that some hostages died during Israel’s shelling of Gaza. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Israel’s intention to intensify operations in the nearly 12-week-old conflict, raising concerns among Western powers about the impact on Gaza civilians and the well-being of the remaining 129 hostages.
