The IDF announced on Wednesday that it found a second round of Hamas hostage cages underground in Khan Yunis.
The announcement followed an earlier IDF announcement of a similar finding of hostage cages on January 20.
In this case, there were cages for 12 hostages, nine of which are still held by Hamas, and three of which were returned to Israel during the November 23-30 hostage exchange deal.
For both discoveries, the cages were only found after delving deep into a very extended tunnel with a variety of defenses until arriving at an unusually large space with many Hamas terror management functions, including the cages for the hostages.
Yahya Sinwar using Gaza hostages as human shields in Gaza
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Millions of shekels were invested in these special underground spaces to outfit them with unique capabilities, including the cages, and to manage the war with Israel.
IDF intelligence is unsure how many more such spaces there may be, though, at this point, the IDF has said it has nearly achieved operational control of Khan Yunis, and it had already achieved such control in Gaza City over a month ago.
At this point, IDF sources have suggested to the Jerusalem Post that Hamas’s leadership and the hostages may be in Rafah, hiding among around 1.5 million Palestinian civilians, while some may also be in a part of central Gaza, which the IDF has not finished with.
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