The IDF on Sunday night disclosed the full background behind the finding of five bodies of hostages held by Hamas in a huge underground tunnel near Jabalya in northern Gaza.
Around two weeks ago, the IDF found two bodies. A few days later, it found three more nearby. At the time, the military announced finding only the first two.
The tunnel was vast, including a large elevator and large rooms, and split into side rooms, like command centers, medical stations, prayer rooms, and rooms for manufacturing weapons.
An IDF source has said that finding the bodies required a mix of preexisting intelligence along with intelligence collected in real time in the field, including through forensic methods.
The tunnel was so large, that although the bodies were all within one general area, they were all in different parts of it.
The five were Eden Zechariah and Ziv Dado, whose bodies were found on December 12, as well as Elia Toledano, Nik Beizer, and Ron Sherman.
Last Thursday, Hamas released a video of the other three hostages killed in Hamas captivity, whose bodies the IDF had recovered.
In the video, the three hostages – Toledano, Beizer, and Sherman, are seen holding up pieces of paper with their names and personal information. All three were kidnapped on October 7.
In a statement posted alongside the video, Hamas claimed that “they tried to keep them alive, but Netanyahu insisted on killing them.”
The video then adds visual effects of shots and animated blood. They are shown in captivity smiling and speaking to each other.
IDF concerned over endangering forces on field
The IDF said it delayed mentioning the other three bodies until troops in the area completed their operations. Until then, there was real concern that announcing more details would endanger the forces in the field, who eventually used 13 tons of explosives to blow up the whole tunnel, something that took more time.
In addition, whereas the IDF had said that Zechariah was killed back on October 7 and merely her body was taken to Gaza, the IDF did not give a clear conclusion about the timing of the deaths of the other hostages. Rather, IDF sources said forensic probes into that issue are still continuing.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this story.