With the IDF completing its operational takeover of Khan Yunis, sources have confirmed that the IDF found no hostages there, although it did find multiple multimillion-shekel special tunnels with cages where hostages had been held.
For most of the war, the IDF said most of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas were in Khan Yunis.
Even when the IDF invaded Khan Yunis and was making significant progress in late December and late January, sources said there was still hope the IDF would locate hostages there.
There was especially high suspicion that hostages might still be held in Khan Yunis in the vast tunnel network, which the IDF still had only penetrated part of.
Hamas moves hostages to Rafah
Once the IDF penetrated the western and southern sectors, and its forces started to be able to move more freely and quickly explore the remaining tunnels, it became clear that Hamas had moved the hostages elsewhere.
Likewise, all of the cages where hostages had been held were empty, but there were signs that they had been occupied until recently.
As early as December, top sources started to argue that Hamas was already moving some hostages from Khan Yunis to Rafah.
Also, top sources had said some hostages remained in a small part of central Gaza, which the IDF has intentionally avoided invading to avoid a premature conflagration that could lead to the hostages’ deaths.
It seems that since December, some or all of the remaining hostages in Khan Yunis were moved to Rafah, hiding among about 1.5 million Palestinian civilians.
Although it is also possible that the hostages are being hidden in more obscure villages, no security sources have suggested such a theory to date.
On Wednesday morning, the IDF announced the death of St.-Sgt. Abraham Wovagen, 21, who fell in northern Gaza.
Wovagen was from Netanya and was in the 932nd Battalion of the Nahal Brigade.
IDF operates in southern Lebanon
In the North, there were 11 rocket or drone sirens on Wednesday, with Hezbollah claiming it had initiated 12 attacks on Israel. In one of the attacks, a house in Metulla was hit by an anti-tank missile. There were many evacuations, but no casualties were reported.
The IDF attacked three of Hezbollah’s operational command centers on Wednesday.
Israeli forces also attacked a military building containing terrorists from the organization in the village of Yaroun. The IDF identified several terrorists entering the military structure the day before.
Hamas had not fired any rockets since Monday morning, but it did fire a small number of rockets on most days last week until the weekend.
Throughout the war, engineering forces of the Alexandroni Brigade have cleared close to 30 km. of obstacles near Israel’s border with Lebanon, providing significantly more freedom of action on the northern front, the IDF said Wednesday.
The Alexandroni Brigade, deployed from Metulla to Rosh Hanikra, is leading the defense on the border against Hezbollah, the IDF said.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.