Report: IDF to warn government any expansion of Gaza military op risks hostages’ lives
Probe into 6 hostages’ murder said to find Hamas lookouts saw troops coming; IDF said to assess any deal would enable more freedom to operate later by reducing danger of harm to captives
The IDF will warn the government that it believes any expansion of the military operation in Gaza risks the lives of the hostages, Channel 13 reported on Tuesday.
The warning of the risk to hostages would be passed to political leaders if they ask for further maneuvers in Gaza, Channel 13 said.
The network cited an unnamed senior military official who asserted that any potential hostage deal would allow the IDF to operate more freely in Gaza as needed at a later stage because the presence of captives in the Strip, and fear of them being harmed, can limit the scope and location of the army’s maneuvers.
The report came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government comes under increasing public and international pressure to reach a deal with Hamas for a ceasefire in the ongoing war in Gaza that would include the release of hostages.
Earlier this week, IDF chief Herzi Halevi visited the tunnel in Rafah where the bodies of six hostages were found over the weekend after they were executed by their Hamas captors who apparently got wind that the IDF was approaching.
Autopsies showed Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat, and Almog Sarusi were shot to death shortly before troops located their bodies on Saturday afternoon in a tunnel in Rafah.
The IDF’s policy has been not to enter areas when they have intelligence that hostages may be held.
However, the intelligence apparently wasn’t strong enough regarding the Rafah tunnel in question which led the soldiers to approach the area, tipping off the Hamas lookouts, the Kan public broadcaster reported.
A preliminary investigation conducted by the IDF into the murder of the six hostages found that Hamas lookout fighters positioned outside the Rafah tunnel spotted Israeli troops approaching and tipped off the guards, who executed the captives before fleeing the scene, the network said.
Kan said the assessment is in line with the circumstances last month under which the bodies of another six hostages were retrieved from a tunnel. At the time, troops found the remains of four terrorists who were killed in an airstrike lying close to the shafts leading to the tunnel.
Hamas is believed by Israel to have given standing orders to operatives who are holding hostages to kill the captives if they think Israeli forces are nearing.
On Monday, a spokesman for the terror group said that following Israel’s successful rescue of hostages Noa Argamani, Shlomi Ziv, Andrey Kozlov and Almog Meir Jan in Nuseirat in June, new protocols were given to terrorists guarding the abductees if Israeli troops were approaching them.
“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,” Hudhaifa Kahlout — known by the nom de guerre Abu Obeida — said.
Meanwhile, senior Israeli officials told Channel 13 that they are not optimistic about progress in talks after Mossad chief David Barnea returned from Qatar where he held negotiations with mediators.
It came as the White House announced that its latest, Israel-backed hostage deal proposal includes an IDF withdrawal from heavily populated areas along the Philadelphi Corridor, a day after Netanyahu declared Israel must indefinitely maintain a presence along the Egypt-Gaza border stretch.
The Philadelphi Corridor is seen as a key sticking point in negotiations, with Netanyahu repeatedly digging in on his stance, including during a live broadcast press conference on Monday. Military officials reportedly differ, saying Israel can afford to give up the corridor for several weeks while a hostage deal is implemented, even if it means having to retake the area later. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is said to be bitterly divided with Netanyahu on the matter and is in favor of withdrawing from the area.
Many Israelis blame Netanyahu for the mounting number of dead hostages and have been calling for a hostage-ceasefire agreement to free the 97 abductees taken on October 7 who are still held in Gaza — even if that means ending the conflict.
Mass demonstrations that swept the country on Sunday and Monday after the news of the execution of the six hostages were the largest show of support for a hostage deal since October 7, when some 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists burst across the border into Israel, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
There were further demonstrations on Tuesday as people rallied up and down the country for the third consecutive day demanding a hostages-for-ceasefire deal.
