The Israeli army announced today, Sunday, the recovery of the bodies of five Israeli hostages from an underground tunnel network in northern Gaza after they were killed while being held by Hamas. The army displayed footage of a bathroom and a workspace connected to concrete corridors. It did not clarify the circumstances of their deaths, and Israeli army spokesperson Admiral Daniel Hagari stated that authorities are awaiting forensic examination results of the bodies. He said, "We will inform the families and then the public about what the families will allow to be disclosed."
The five hostages, which included three soldiers and two civilians, were among 240 individuals taken by Hamas militants into Gaza during the border attack on October 7, which sparked the ongoing war. The army announced the recovery of their remains earlier this month. Last week, Hamas released a video showing three living hostages inside what appeared to be a narrow windowless bedroom with an electrical outlet. In a message addressed to Israel in Hebrew, Hamas, which is supported by Iran, stated, "Your military weapons killed the three." Hamas had previously claimed that some hostages were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza and threatened to execute hostages.
The announcement made by the Israeli army today comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel would intensify its operations in the war that has been ongoing for nearly 12 weeks, raising concerns among Western powers about civilian casualties in Gaza and the fate of the remaining 129 hostages. A video released by the army showed its engineers in a dark tunnel network, which it claimed consisted of two levels, one at a depth of ten meters and the other at a depth of "dozens of meters." The Israeli army indicated that one of the tunnels extends into the home of Hamas's northern brigade commander, Ahmed al-Ghandour. The footage showed part of the tunnel covered with white tiles, in addition to a bathroom and a workspace. One of the tunnels contained a water dispenser and several cartridges. The footage did not include images that matched the bedroom of the hostages depicted in the video released by Hamas, although the floor was also covered in white tiles.
