Horrific conditions of the ‘hero hostages’ prison: new video

Israel’s military has broadcast gruelling footage of a dark, fetid tunnel in Gaza where six hostages executed by Hamas managed to survive 330 days with almost no air, food or water | WATCH

IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari in the tunnel where the captives were found.

Israel’s military has broadcast gruelling footage of a dark, fetid tunnel in Gaza where six hostages executed by Hamas militants managed to survive 330 days with almost no air, food or water before they were killed hours before troops arrived to rescue them.

Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat, and Almog Sarusi were executed in the tunnel by their captors on August 29, despite desperately fighting for their survival.

Their deaths have spurred an outpouring of grief and anger in Israel, with large-scale protests demanding the government do more to bring home the remaining hostages in Gaza.

The Israeli Defence Forces had provided the hostages’ families with details of their brutal living conditions, but have published new information of the hostages’ last days in a tunnel less than two metres high, with no air vents – making it impossible to stand and immensely difficult to breathe.

In the video, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, perspiring in the heat as he knelt in the narrow space, pointed out that the shaft to the tunnel was built under a childrens’ bedroom, with a false floor to conceal the entrance.

The tunnel itself was a 120 metres long, 1.5 metre wide passageway, unlike other Hamas tunnels that have rooms off them, and with a metal door at the end.

Items including women's clothing and hair brushes were scattered in the tunnel. Picture: IDF.

“This is a ‘passage’ tunnel, not a ‘room’ tunnel. Standing up straight is impossible, and the humidity is extreme,” Rear Admiral Hagari says in the video.

“It is extremely difficult to survive in such conditions. They were heroes, coldly murdered by terrorists who build tunnels beneath children’s bedrooms and hide with captives,” he added.

“They were in this tunnel for weeks or days, we will find out. But they were here in this tunnel in horrific conditions, where there is no air to breathe.

“They survived, but they were murdered by terrorists”

The video shows mattresses stacked against the walls, women’s clothing, bottles filled with urine, a chess set, copies of the Koran, and AK-47 magazines belonging to the militants. There were also protein bars, shampoo and soap, and hair brushes with hair in them.

Israeli troops found a chess set and bottles of urine in the tunnel. Picture: IDF.

Rear Admiral Hagari also pointed out the bloodstains from when the hostages were shot dead shortly before soldiers discovered their bodies.

“Here you see their blood on the floor. This is where their final moments occurred: Hersh [Goldberg-Polin], Eden [Yerushalmi], Carmel [Gat], Ori [Danino], Almog [Sarusi], and Alex [Lobanov]. They were brutally murdered here.”

Mattresses and bloodstains can be seen in the narrow tunnels. Picture: IDF.

Speaking to reporters earlier, he said: “They were heroes. Even when they were murdered they were protecting each other” from militants who “could have taken them outside to negotiate” but instead “decided to murder them in cold blood”.

The IDF discovered the tunnel shaft on August 30. The following day, troops entered the tunnel using heavy machinery and discovered a locked blast door, The Times of Israel reports. They found the bodies of the hostages later that day; just 700 metres away from where hostage Farhan Al-Qadi had been found alive by troops a few days earlier.

Earlier this week, the IDF told the hostages’ families that the men had fought with their executioners in the last minutes of their lives, attempting to save the two female captives.

The hostages were all found with bullet wounds to their heads and other parts of their bodies, the IDF said.

Rear Admiral Hagari vowed that Israeli forces would “hunt down” the militants who killed the six hostages.

The details of the hostages’ living conditions and their executions raises more concerns about the chances the remaining hostages have of survival.

Families of six other hostages found earlier this year in Khan Younis say the military has told them they were shot and also appeared to be executed.

Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat was one of the women killed in the Rafah tunnel, told the Wall St Journal: “These are the most horrific conditions I saw in my life. And to think they survived this and succeeded in being there for perhaps weeks.”

The new details come as hostage negotiations remain deadlocked, with both sides refusing to budge over key sticking points, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on keeping troops in the Philadelphi Corridor between Egypt and Gaza, and Hamas’ intransigence over a permanent peace being agreed before it signs a ceasefire deal.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group, which has organised some of the huge anti-government protests around the country, has called on the Israeli government urgently to agree to a truce.

Calling the footage “shocking,” the group warned time was running out to free the remaining captives.

“The Prime Minister of Israel and the ministers of the government hold joint responsibility for the fate and safety of our abductees,” it said in a statement.

“Their silence and inaction are unparalleled in the history of the country. History will reckon with them forever.”

With AFP