An initial IDF investigation into Hamas’s murder of the six hostages in Rafah last week revealed that Hamas lookouts standing outside the tunnel saw IDF forces approaching the area,  prompting the terrorists to murder the hostages and flee the area, Kan News reported on Tuesday evening.

According to the report, after the hostages’ bodies were located, the IDF discovered indications at the scene that Hamas lookouts were watching the IDF soldiers in real time.

IDF forces operating in Rafah have been careful not to approach areas where live hostages may be held, according to intelligence information transmitted to the forces in real-time. However, in this case, there was no intelligence that hostages were being held in the area.

On Monday, the Hamas terror group engaged in its usual inhumane cruelty and lies. After previously claiming that the six hostages were not murdered but were killed in an IDF airstrike, Hamas spokesperson Abu Obaida, in a post on Telegram, admitted to killing “the prisoners” but placed the blame on Israel, saying that “Netanyahu and the occupation army alone bear full responsibility for the deaths of the ‘prisoners’ after deliberately blocking any ‘prisoner exchange’ out of their own narrow interests.”

Abu Obaida then hinted that Hamas will murder all the hostages rather than allow them to be rescued by the IDF, stating that following the rescue of the four hostages in the “Nuseirat incident” [Operation Arnon] in June, Hamas guards were issued new instructions about “how to treat the ‘prisoners’ if the occupation army approaches the area where they’re being held.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)