From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, December 4, 2024
IDF: 6 hostages were executed early this year by Gaza captors amid airstrikes near their tunnel
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
More than three months after their bodies were recovered from Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, an IDF investigation has found that six hostages were likely executed by their captors amid an airstrike on a Hamas tunnel.
Hostages Alex Dancyg, 75, Yagev Buchshtav, 35, Chaim Peri, 79, Yoram Metzger, 80, Nadav Popplewell, 51, and Avraham Munder, 78, were recovered by the IDF from a tunnel in the Hamad Town residential complex of Khan Younis on August 20, months after they were killed.
The IDF investigation has found that the six men, after being abducted alive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, were taken to a central tunnel in Khan Younis where they were held until late December. The IDF reached that tunnel, which featured holding cells, in January.
By then, the hostages had been moved to another tunnel in Khan Younis, around four kilometers away. They were held in a narrow hidden passageway under Hamad Town that connected parts of a large underground network in Khan Younis, according to the military’s investigation.
The IDF had no information on where the hostages were moved to, and on February 14, airstrikes were carried out by fighter jets on Hamas tunnels in the Hamad Town area, targeting a battalion commander in the terror group.
The military says it did not know of any hostages held in the area, and the strikes were given all the required approvals because there was no suspicion of captives being there.
Six months later, using new intelligence, the IDF reached the site of the strike and recovered the bodies of the six hostages, all of whom were found to have gunshot wounds, indicating with high likelihood that they were executed by the Hamas guards holding them captive.
During the August 20 operation, the IDF also recovered the bodies of six Hamas terrorists from the tunnel.
According to findings from the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, the six terror operatives had no signs of gunfire on their bodies, and they were killed as a result of a “byproduct” from the IDF’s airstrike, meaning they suffocated or were killed by carbon dioxide poisoning inside the tunnel due to a strike.
The IDF does not know exactly when the hostages were executed — before the strike, during it, or after it. Still, the military believes that the result would have been the same, and the hostages would have died due to the strike’s “byproduct” regardless.
