The complexity of recent rescue operations in Gaza to recover the bodies of hostages has led the IDF to conclude that some of the hostages’ bodies may never be found.

“There will be more Ron Arads at the end of the war,” IDF officials said.

Last week’s rescue of five hostages’ bodies in Khan Younis was carried out with the assistance of a Hamas terrorist who led Israeli forces to the precise location in a tunnel wall 20 meters underground where the bodies were buried.

Hamas had hidden the bodies in such a way that without precise intelligence, they would not have been found.

In April, the IDF recovered the body of hostage Elad Katzir after obtaining intelligence on the area where he was held [and cruelly murdered] and sending forces to search for the body. Baruch Hashem, the forces found the body since all of Katzir’s captors had been killed in the war and there was no one to reveal his burial place.

The IDF believes that as more time passes, the chances of obtaining intelligence on the hostages increase. Investigators are currently scouring a vast trove of intelligence obtained during the war.

Sadly, however, the chances of rescuing live hostages decrease over time.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)