“This is their blood” Israeli army releases video of hostage tunnel
11.09.2024, 01:43 Listen to article
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A pink sweater, a hairbrush, Koran books and dried blood: The Israeli army has released a video of a Hamas tunnel in the Gaza Strip. The six hostages were shot there in early September. The video provides insights into the living conditions of the hostages.
The Israeli army has released a video showing the tunnel in the Gaza Strip in which six Israeli Hamas hostages were held captive and killed. The way into the tunnel, which is 20 meters deep, leads via ladders from an entrance in a child’s room, says army spokesman Daniel Hagari in the video.
He is standing in a bombed-out room, on the walls of which colorful cartoon characters can still be seen. The narrow and low tunnel leads about 120 meters to an iron door. “This is where the hostages were held captive and murdered,” says Hagari in the video, which is about three and a half minutes long. The bodies were recovered in early September. The army spokesman showed seized material – weapon magazines, batteries and Koran books from Hamas, a chess set and items of clothing.
“This is their blood,” Hagari says in the video, pointing to large dark stains on the floor of the tunnel. Then he names the victims. Hamas terrorists killed two women and four men with close-range gunfire at the beginning of September: In addition to Gat, Hamas killed 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 24-year-old Eden Yerushalmi, 25-year-old Ori Danino, 32-year-old Alex Lobanov, and 27-year-old Almog Sarusi. The Israeli military found their bodies in the tunnel now filmed in Gaza.
“They were here for weeks and months, in this tunnel with no air, where you can’t stand upright.” There are still 101 hostages in Hamas’s power, “some of them alive,” who are being held captive in similar tunnels. “We must do everything in our power to bring them back home,” says Hagari. The discovery sparked mass demonstrations in Israel for a hostage deal with Hamas.
Hamas and other Islamist terrorist groups invaded southern Israel on October 7 last year, killing more than 1,200 people and taking around 250 others hostage in the Gaza Strip. The unprecedented massacre triggered the Gaza War. According to Israeli figures, 101 people are still being held captive by Hamas, although it is unclear how many of them are still alive.
