From the Liveblog of
Thursday, May 23, 2024
IDF reveals new details of discovery of bodies of four hostages in Gaza last week
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
The IDF approves the publication of new details of how the bodies of four Israeli hostages were found last week in northern Gaza.
The Times of Israel was in the Jabaliya refugee camp last night to view the tunnel amid ongoing combat.
As drones buzzed in circles overhead and tanks fired nearby every few minutes, Lt. Col. Almog Rotem stood over an open tunnel shaft in a dark home in the heart of the camp.
The bodies of four Israeli hostages – Itzhak Gelerenter, Amit Buskila, Ron Benjamin and Shani Louk – were discovered in the tunnel by troops from Battalion 202 of the Paratroopers Brigade.
The troops were operating in that section of the refugee camp, which had yet to be conquered by the IDF, because of analysis from the battalion intelligence officer.
The officer “noticed that there were elements that interest us,” said Rotem, “and we understood that is something here.”
A force commanded by Capt. Roy Beit Yaakov entered the booby-trapped house to search it. Even after eight months of constant fighting across the Gaza Strip, the troops went out of their way to check every closet and corner.
Beit Yaakov insisted on pulling up a rug in one of the rooms, and found a square metal door in the middle of the floor.
He reported on the radio that he had found a tunnel shaft, and Rotem secured the area and summoned a force from the Combat Engineering Corps’ elite Yahalom unit. The force, Samech 2, was commanded by Captain Aleph, who can only be referred to by his Hebrew initial.
The Yahalom force uncovered a shaft about ten meters (30 feet) deep, with a metal ladder bolted into one of the sides.
It didn’t look different from dozens of other shafts they had found, but Aleph insisted on using all the tools available at this disposal to search for the bodies of hostages in the tunnel.
“We discovered explosives at the entrance of the shaft,” Aleph told The Times of Israel. “We began operating underground, carefully, with determination, using intuition. We found several suspicious areas, which ultimately led us to locate the hostages and to extract them that same night.”
“After we confirmed they were our hostages, there is no greater pride than that,” Aleph continued. “There is no greater privilege. And we want to continue ceaselessly to bring more and more hostages home.”
“There is no one more proud than us that we could bring the bodies of Israelis back for a proper burial in Israel,” said Rotem.
Days later, Beit Yaakov was killed in a friendly fire incident that also took the lives of four of his soldiers.
