JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military has released video footage of a Gaza tunnel where it says six hostages were recently killed by Hamas. The video shows a low, narrow passageway deep underground that had no bathroom and poor ventilation.
The discovery of the hostages’ bodies last month sparked a mass outpouring of anger in Israel and 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.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Tuesday 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.”
He said evidence indicated the six had been protecting each other when they were killed, although he didn’t elaborate on what that evidence was.
The six included Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, a native of Berkeley, California, whose parents led a high-profile global campaign seeking his release. Goldberg-Polin lost part of his left arm to a grenade in the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war in Gaza. In April, Hamas issued a video that showed him alive, sparking protests in Israel. The army identified the others as Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; Alexander Lobanov, 33; and Carmel Gat, 40.
Three of the six – including Goldberg-Polin – had reportedly been scheduled to be released in the first phase of a cease-fire proposal discussed in July, further fueling anger when they were found dead.
Pathology tests on the bodies of the six, who were found by the military in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Saturday, Aug. 31, showed they had been killed sometime on the night of Aug. 29, Hagari said. The military found a tunnel shaft beneath a children’s room and advanced through it carefully because of the danger of booby traps, finding the bodies about 120 meters into the tunnel, in an area behind an iron door.
The tunnel was low and narrow, with humid conditions making it hard to breathe inside, Hagari said, adding that Israeli soldiers found evidence indicating the hostages and “at least two terrorists” had been there for more than a few days. The soldiers found a sack containing bottles of urine and a bucket dug into the ground to serve as an improvised toilet, he said. Mattresses, clothes, assault rifle magazines and shells were also found, as was some food, mainly energy bars and tuna. There were blood stains on the floor, he said.
Hagari said the army had killed two militants trying to run away from a complex of tunnels on Friday near where the hostages were found and that there was “a probability” that the two had been those who killed the hostages. DNA tests were being carried out to verify this, he added.
Hamas kidnapped about 250 people during the Oct. 7 attack. More than 100 were released during a brief cease-fire in November in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Eight have been rescued by Israeli forces, while Israeli troops mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages who had escaped captivity in December. Israeli authorities say 101 hostages remain in captivity, including 35 who are believed to be dead.
Hamas has offered to release the hostages in return for an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including high-profile militants. But negotiations on a cease-fire have failed to produce any deal.
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Melzer contributed from Nahariya, Israel.