Hamas hints six slain hostages extracted by IDF were murdered because troops were near
Spokesman for terror group’s military wing says special instructions were given to guards following successful rescue of four other hostages in June; blames Israel for their deaths
The Hamas terror group indicated Monday that it murdered the six hostages whose bodies were recovered by the IDF from a tunnel in southern Gaza’s Rafah over the weekend to prevent Israeli troops from rescuing them.
In a statement, the spokesman for the military wing of Hamas said that following Israel’s successful hostage rescue in Nuseirat in June, new protocols were given to terrorists guarding the abductees that they were to follow should Israeli troops approach.
“We say to everyone clearly that after the Nuseirat incident, new instructions were issued to the mujahideen assigned to guard the prisoners regarding dealing with them if the occupation army approached their place of detention,” said Hudhaifa Kahlout, known by the nom de guerre Abu Obeida.
Abu Obeida did not provide details regarding the exact nature of the instructions. Israel believes that the terror group has given standing orders to operatives who are holding hostages, to kill the captives if they think Israeli forces are nearing.
The six hostages whose bodies were recovered over the weekend — Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat, and Almog Sarusi — were killed just days before troops found them, according to autopsies and the IDF.
Netanyahu said in a press conference on Monday that they had been shot in the back of the head, and promised that Hamas would pay a heavy price.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Netanyahu’s accusations against Hamas were an attempt to escape responsibility for their death, adding that his threats to its leaders didn’t frighten them.
“Netanyahu killed the six prisoners and he is determined to kill the remaining ones. The Israelis should choose between Netanyahu or the deal,” said Abu Zuhri.
Abu Obeida similarly said that the terror group held Israel responsible for the hostages’ deaths.
“[Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s insistence on liberating the prisoners through military pressure instead of concluding a deal will mean that they will return to their families inside coffins and their families will have to choose whether they are dead or alive,” he said.
Alongside the statement, Hamas released a propaganda illustration depicting a captive Israeli hostage with a terrorist holding a handgun behind them. The image was accompanied by both Hebrew and Arabic captions, which read: “Military pressure = death and failure. Exchange deal = Freedom and life.”
Eden Yerushalmi video
Later on Monday, the terror group published a pre-recorded video of Yerushalmi — a portion of which was approved for publication by her family — in which she urged Netanyahu to conclude a deal to free the hostages and said she feared she could die in captivity.
The date that the video was recorded was unclear.
Yerushalmi’s family approved the release of a short section of the video.
“Our Eden, we love you too and we miss you like crazy. You are forever in our hearts,” her family said in a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Family Forum.
Hamas has previously published similar propaganda videos of hostages that Israel accuses of being psychological warfare and containing coerced statements from the captives.
The six hostages were among the 251 people abducted to Gaza on October 7 when Palestinian terror group Hamas led a devastating cross-border assault on Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
The IDF said that it 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.
Troops began to search a tunnel complex, some 20 meters underground, on Saturday and found the hostages, dead, in the afternoon. Their bodies were extracted from Gaza overnight and brought to Israel for identification.
At the beginning of the war, Abu Obeida threatened to execute Israeli hostages and release footage of the killings.
Mass demonstrations were held throughout Israel on Sunday after news came out that the bodies were found, with protesters demanding the government reach a deal for the release of hostages.
It is believed that 97 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 33 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 37 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014
