An official IDF investigation has concluded that six hostages – Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Ori Danino –  were murdered by Hamas terrorists in an underground tunnel in Rafah. The findings, presented on Tuesday to the victims’ families by Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, indicate the hostages were killed on or around August 29, 2024, as IDF forces closed in on the area.

The IDF findings detail an operation launched on August 15 by the 162nd Division to defeat Hamas’s Tel al-Sultan Battalion after approximately three months of ongoing military activity in Rafah. Troops engaged in “intense combat” and ultimately discovered a “central underground tunnel system,” prompting the establishment of a specialized command center. Shayetet 13, the 162nd Division, intelligence units, and other security authorities collaborated closely to map out and secure the tunnels, as well as to search for potential hostages.

According to the report, the IDF had only a “medium to low” assessment that additional hostages were in the vicinity, but nonetheless planned and executed operations with extreme caution. This approach led to the unexpected rescue of a hostage, identified as Qaid Farhan Alkadi, on August 27 from an underground compound—an event that prompted a 24-hour halt in operations to re-evaluate the presence of other hostages.

Despite the pause, the IDF had no specific intelligence indicating that additional hostages were being held nearby. On August 31, troops discovered the six murdered hostages in a tunnel shaft. Pathological findings suggest they were killed on or about August 29, with gunshot wounds visible on their bodies.

The IDF determined that the hostages were executed by the terrorists holding them captive. According to the investigation, the IDF’s methodical ground activities in the region may have influenced Hamas’s decision to kill the hostages, though the precise events that unfolded inside the tunnel remain unclear.

“This is a painful and tragic event, with the extremely difficult outcome of the brutal murder of six hostages by Hamas,” said Lt. Gen. Halevi. “While IDF forces were operating in the area, Hamas terrorists carried out these murders by gunfire. The exact circumstances may never be fully understood.”

In light of the report’s conclusions, the IDF acknowledged the difficulty in gleaning further details about what happened in the tunnel. The official investigation deemed it “unlikely” that the full sequence of events leading to the killings will ever be definitively established.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)