Stuffed animals and cartoons on the walls: IDF reveals terror shaft where bodies of murdered hostages were found

‘This is what Hamas does, they hide behind the civilian population’

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The IDF Spokesman’s Office on Wednesday evening released images and video of the tunnel shaft where the bodies of the six murdered Israeli hostages were found.

The tunnel shaft was discovered in a children’s play area with pictures of cartoon characters on the walls and stuffed animals lying on the floor.

The IDF said that troops of the 162nd Division and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) located the shaft leading to the tunnel in an area extensively booby-trapped and surrounded by Hamas fighters.

“This is a further example of how Hamas abuses civilian areas to hold hostages and carry out its terrorist activities,” the spokesman’s office said.

Staff Sergeant A., a member of the Yahalom combat engineering commando, spoke about the operation.

“We received a clear intelligence indication regarding a tunnel shaft in this area. We operated precisely in this location to dismantle the infrastructure and uncover the tunnel,” said A.

“As you can see, this tunnel was hidden in a child’s bedroom. A place for a child should be a safe place, and not used as a human shield for Hamas.”

“This is exactly what Hamas does,” A. continued. “They hide behind the civilian population, putting them at risk. From this tunnel, we rescued the bodies of six Israeli hostages: Eden, Ori, Carmel, Almog, Hersh, and Alexander.”

After the bodies were recovered, and autopsies revealed that they had been murdered by Hamas, the organization admitted it had issued "new instructions" to Hamas fighters guarding the hostages, implying they had been murdered.

The six hostages were found not far from another tunnel where, a few days before, IDF soldiers found and rescued Israeli-Bedouin hostage Qaid Farhan al-Qadi.

The 401st Brigade’s combat team has been operating in the Tel Sultan neighborhood in recent weeks as part of a divisional operation by the 162nd Division in Rafah. So far, more than 200 terrorists have been eliminated in the area and dozens of weapons have been found in homes and civilian structures.

In one encounter, terrorists fired at IDF troops from inside a building. The troops conducted a targeted raid on the building, searched it, and then eliminated the terrorist inside. In the basement, the troops located large quantities of weapons used by the terrorists embedded there.

Nearby, the soldiers located ten rocket launchers designed for firing long-range rockets and intended to be used to fire at the State of Israel.

On Tuesday, IDF Chief of the General Staff, LTG Herzi Halevi, held a situational assessment in the central Gaza Strip, where he said, “We must not give up on any of the war goals.”

Halevi said, “The IDF is continuing to defeat the military wing of Hamas and is doing everything possible to bring the hostages back alive. Every hostage we return alive now will have many more years of life, and every terrorist will ultimately be eliminated.”