Six Israeli hostages found in August were executed by Hamas, not directly killed in airstrike, IDF probe finds

The Israeli military on Wednesday revealed the results of a comprehensive probe into the deaths of six hostages whose bodies were recovered from the Gaza Strip in August.

The IDF told the hostages’ families that they were shot by Hamas terrorists fearing an impending IDF raid and not directly by Israeli bombardments, as the Hamas terrorist organization had claimed.

The bodies of Alex Dancyg (75), Yagev Buchshtab (35), Chaim Peri (79), Yoram Metzger (80), Nadav Popplewell (51), and Avraham Munder (78) were recovered by Israeli troops from a tunnel in Khan Younis in a night raid on Aug. 20.

Of the six hostages, only Munder had not yet been declared dead by the IDF at the time. Intelligence information led the military to declare Peri, Metzger, and Popplewell as deceased in June, while Dancyg and Buchshtab were confirmed dead by the IDF in late July.

The IDF was initially unable to determine the exact circumstances of their deaths.

On Wednesday, Army Radio reported that the investigation found that for the first months of the war, the hostages were held in a large tunnel dubbed “the kingdom” under Khan Younis, likely alongside other hostages and senior Hamas officials.

The IDF believes they were held there until the end of December or early January. During that time, military intelligence was aware of the presence of the hostages in the “kingdom” tunnel.

However, the six hostages were then transferred to a tunnel in the Hamad City neighborhood, some 4 km (2.5 miles) away, to stay clear of the IDF’s ground offensive into Khan Younis.

The army still doesn’t know whether the hostages were transferred there either above or below ground. At this point, the IDF had lost contact with them and didn’t know about their new location.

The second tunnel was not meant for a longer stay but was built as a transit tunnel, very narrow, and similar in size to the tunnel where six other hostages were murdered in the Tel Sultan neighborhood in Rafah.

On Feb. 14, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) bombed targets in Hamad City, very close to the location of the then-unknown tunnel. The military clarified that there was no suspicion that hostages were being held near the targets at the time of the IAF strikes.

According to the investigation, the airstrikes were not due to a lack of judgment or care, had received all the required approvals, and were carried out in accordance with established procedures and orders.

“We don’t always know where all the abductees are, but we make a daily effort to minimize any risk. There were several cases during the war where our lack of knowledge, unfortunately, led directly or indirectly to the death of hostages,” a senior security official told Army Radio.

As a result of the airstrikes, the oxygen and air supply in the tunnel was cut off, leading to the formation of toxic gases that likely killed both the hostages and their captors.

The military estimates that the terrorists executed the hostages immediately after the airstrike, probably fearing an imminent IDF raid. However, Israeli forces arrived in the tunnel only in August, when they discovered the victims' bodies with gunshot wounds.

Next to them, the bodies of six Hamas terrorists were found. The IDF estimates that in the six months that passed between February and August, other Hamas terrorists entered the same tunnel, but did not move the bodies to another location, believing the IDF would not find the tunnel.