The six hostages whose remains were found by the Israeli army in a secret part of a tunnel in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, were all alive when they were taken to Gaza on October 7. They are Alex Dancyg, 75, Yagev Buchshtav, 35, Chaim Peri, 79, Yoram Metzger, 80, Nadav Popplewell, 51, Avraham Munder, 79. Five of them had been declared dead in captivity in the past two months by the IDF, but the fate of Munder was unknown.
The army's assessment is that five of the kidnapped men "died of suffocation" following an IDF raid six months ago near the tunnel: the bombing caused a fire and smoke filled the underground tunnel. The bodies of the guards, along with their Kalashnikovs, were found in the same place.
The rescue operation, on the night between Monday and Tuesday, was triggered by intelligence information. The soldiers entered four tunnels. In one of the tunnels, ten meters deep, they identified a wall that seemed unstable, they broke through it, discovering a hidden path that led to the place where the bodies of the kidnapped people lay.
"We were waiting for an agreement that would bring everyone back, but reality has proved us wrong. The blood is on Netanyahu's hands," Munder's nephew, Eyal Mor, told Kan TV. "From October until March, he survived that hell," another nephew, Shahar, commented bitterly. "I have no doubt that in the last weeks of his life, he saw the true face of Israel, the country he helped found."
In December last year, Hamas released a video showing Peri, Metzger, and a third hostage alive. The militants later claimed that the three had been killed by Israeli strikes. Also in March, the militants claimed that Buchshtav had died from lack of food and medicine, while Dancyg had been killed by Israeli fire. The claims were not confirmed by the army. In May, Hamas shared a clip of Popplewell, weeks after his death.
The announcement of the discovery of the bodies has sparked numerous political reactions. But above all, the voices of the hostages' relatives have been raised, accusing the prime minister of being responsible and of obstructing the agreement with Hamas.
(Unioneonline/D)