IDF: Hamas Likely Executed Six Hostages in Khan Yunis Tunnel Amid February Airstrike

Dec 4, 2024, 03:23 PM

An Israeli military investigation has concluded that six hostages, whose bodies were recovered from a Hamas tunnel in Khan Yunis on August 20, 2024, were likely executed by their captors around the time of an Israeli airstrike on February 20, 2024. The hostages, identified as Alex Dancyg, 75, Yagev Buchshtav, 35, Chaim Peri, 79, Yoram Metzger, 80, Nadav Popplewell, 51, and Avraham Munder, 78, were kidnapped during the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas. The investigation found that the military was not aware of the hostages' presence in the area at the time of the strike. The IDF retrieved the bodies on August 20, 2024, along with those of six Hamas militants. The findings suggest that the hostages were killed by Hamas militants in response to the nearby airstrike, not by the strike itself, refuting claims that the Israeli military was responsible for their deaths.