Hostages had been killed by Hamas the evening earlier than IDF reached tunnel, Israel says

TEL AVIV — Hamas executed the six hostages just lately discovered useless in Gaza the evening earlier than Israeli forces reached the tunnel the place they had been being held, authorities officers mentioned Tuesday evening.

The victims, together with American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, had been killed on the night of Aug. 29 in Rafah’s Tal Al Sultan neighborhood, the Israel Protection Forces mentioned, citing postmortem examinations of the our bodies.

The IDF mentioned it reached the tunnel and made the grotesque discovery on Aug. 30. It is believed two gunmen utilizing two separate weapons killed the half-dozen hostages.

AK-47 magazines and shell casings had been discovered close by, Israeli officers mentioned.

“It was a tough second to see the bloodstains on the ground,” mentioned Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an IDF spokesperson.

The victims’ households have been proven video of the tunnel, about 20 meters underground and 120 meters lengthy, the place their family members had been being held and had been later discovered useless, officers mentioned.

It was a good match for anybody contained in the tunnel, which was about 5½ toes excessive, so nobody might rise up absolutely, based on the IDF.

The IDF made among the video public Tuesday evening, exhibiting how the tunnel was dug under a baby’s bed room that had work of Mickey Mouse and Snow White on the partitions.

“That is their blood,” Hagari mentioned, pointing at bloodstains within the tunnel.

Hagari spoke to a digicam and confirmed what was left behind, together with bottles of drinks, a hairbrush, energy chargers and ammunition.

“They had been heroes, and so they had been right here on this tunnel for weeks or days; we’ll discover out,” Hagari mentioned of the slain hostages. “However they had been right here on this tunnel in horrific situations the place there isn’t a air to breathe, the place you can not stand. And so they survived, however they had been murdered by terrorists.”

The useless have been identified as Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Grasp Sgt. Ori Danino.

Their deaths have put more pressure on the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to succeed in a cease-fire settlement and finish the continuing bloodshed and humanitarian disaster.

“There are nonetheless individuals dwelling like this,” a tearful Shai Dickman, a cousin of Gat’s, informed Israel’s Channel 13 TV. “If there had been a deal on time, Carmel could be sitting right here.”

More than 40,900 people have been killed in Gaza, well being officers within the enclave have mentioned, since Israel launched its offensive in response to Hamas fighters’ invasion on Oct. 7.

About 1,200 individuals had been killed in Israel, and 250 had been taken hostage.

“There are nonetheless hostages, 101, a few of them are alive in the identical situations in tunnels like this in Gaza, and we have to do all the things we are able to … to deliver them again residence alive,” Hagari mentioned.

At least 19 people had been killed and 60 had been injured Tuesday when an Israeli airstrike hit a crowded tent camp in a Gaza humanitarian zone, officers mentioned.

The dying toll is preliminary and will enhance as rescuers dig by means of rubble, based on Gaza’s Well being Ministry.

The Israeli military disputed the dying toll and known as the motion a focused act in opposition to “senior” Hamas militants.