Hamas murdered six hostages in Khan Younes

IDF: Hamas allegedly murdered six hostages in Khan Younes

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi presented the final findings of the investigation to the families of the slain captives.

Hamas terrorists likely executed the six Israeli hostages whose bodies were found in southern Gaza on August 20, the Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday following an extensive investigation.

Although the military said it was not possible to determine with absolute certainty how Yagev Buchshtab, Alexander Dancyg, Yoram Metzger, Avraham Munder, Haim Peri and Nadav Popplewell were killed, their bodies were found with gunshot wounds, unlike their six guards, who reportedly died in an Israeli Air Force strike in the area.

The Army investigation noted that investigators were unable to determine when the hostages were shot: before, during or after the strike. However, the Israeli military believes that the six men would not have survived the airstrike anyway.

At the time of the February 14 airstrike, Jerusalem “had no information, not even a suspicion, that the hostages were in or near the underground complex”according to the press release, which emphasizes that the strike would have been canceled “if such information had been available”.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi presented the final findings of the investigation to the families of the slain hostages on Wednesday.

“In this war which has lasted for a long time and which began on a very difficult day, the mission of repatriating the hostages alive is with us at every moment,” Halevi said. “The Israeli army is convinced that the fighting favors their repatriation, but in the context of the fighting we also made mistakes. »

After the deaths of the six captives, it was decided that any air strike meeting “specific criteria” had to be approved in advance by the Hostages and Missing Persons Headquarters of the IDF Intelligence Directorate.

Hamas propaganda has repeatedly accused the Israeli air force of killing hostages during the 14-month air attack on the Gaza terror group.

Immediately after the six bodies were recovered from the Hamas tunnel over the summer, their families were informed that bullet fragments had been discovered in at least some of their remains.

The Israeli army had pronounced five of the captives dead several weeks earlier, with only Munder presumed alive until the recovery operation.

At the time, then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant hailed the recovery of the hostages’ bodies as a “bold and dangerous operation in the Hamas tunnels of Khan Yunis.”

On August 31, Israeli forces in Rafah discovered the bodies of slain hostages Carmel Gat, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, Eden Yerushalmi and IDF Staff Sergeant Ori Danino.

According to examinations carried out by the L. Greenberg National Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir in Tel Aviv, the six hostages were shot by their captors several times at close range days before their bodies were discovered, indicating that the hostages were executed as Israeli forces closed in on their underground location.

Reuters cited an internal Hamas document on Wednesday evening as saying the terror group had indications that the Israeli military planned to release several hostages, similar to the raid that freed Noa Argamani, Andrey Kozlov, Almog Meir Jan and Shlomi Ziv in June.

The confidential document, dated November 22, asks the terrorists to execute the hostages if such an operation takes place and to “fail to consider the possible repercussions of following instructions.”

Jerusalem estimates that 97 of the 251 hostages captured during the October 7, 2023 assault are still in Gaza after 423 days. Hamas also holds two civilians who entered Gaza in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed during the operation “Protective edge” in 2014.

JForum.fr with jns

Recently recovered hostages: top (left to right) Nadav Popplewell, Yoram Metzger and Avraham Munder; bottom (left to right) Chaim Peri, Yagev Buchshtav and Alex Dancyg. Credit: Courtesy.