A comprehensive IDF probe has concluded that the military did not kill six hostages whose bodies were recovered from Khan Yunis on August 20 after having been kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Rather, there were signs of gunfire on all six hostages’ bodies, such that they were likely killed by their Hamas guards.
However, there is room for uncertainty because, on February 14, the air force bombed the tunnel areas where the hostages were likely being kept, killing around six Hamas guards.
IDF sources admitted that this meant that if the Hamas guards had not already shot the six hostages, the air force bombing probably would have killed them.
Additional Hamas forces later encountered the bodies, but it appears they did not move them to a different area, believing that the IDF would not find them, which it did not for another six months.
These six hostages are different from a group of six hostages who were killed by Hamas in Tel Sultan in Rafah at a later date when the military was maneuvering close to where they were being held.
The six hostages were Nadav Popplewell, Yagev Buchshtab, Yoram Metzger, Haim Peri, Alexander Dancyg, and Avraham Munder.
In addition, the IDF disclosed the movements of the hostages as far as it knows up until their death.
According to the IDF, the six hostages were held along with a larger group of hostages in the largest underground Hamas command center in Gaza, in Khan Yunis, until the end of December.
This was the area with artificial turf and large numbers of cages as well as top senior Hamas leaders.
At the end of December, the six were separated from the other hostages as well as from the top Hamas leaders, and were moved to Hamad, a neighborhood four kilometers away from their earlier hiding spot in Khan Yunis.
This occurred as the IDF made breakthroughs in its invasion of Khan Yunis, which had started on December 1.
The IDF did not inject large numbers of soldiers into Hamad until months after it had taken over the rest of Khan Yunis proper.
On February 14, the IDF conducted air strikes against Hamas battalion commanders in the area where the hostages were being held underground.
The IDF believes that Hamas shot and killed them shortly before they themselves were killed.
Unlike the hostages, who had signs of gunfire on their bodies, the Hamas guards only had signs of airstrikes.
On June 3, the IDF confirmed four of the six were dead, even though it had not recovered the bodies.
By July 22, the IDF was able to confirm all six were dead.
The August 20 rescue operation was conducted by the IDF’s 98th Division and carried out by the Paratroopers Brigade, ‘Yahalom’ Unit, and the 75th Battalion, along with ISA forces. The operation was managed by military intelligence, ISA, and the IDF Intelligence Directorate Hostage Headquarters.
It was announced by Kibbutz Nirim earlier that the bodies of Popplewell and Buchshtab were retrieved from Gaza. Similarly, Kibbutz Nir Oz announced that the bodies of Peri, Metzger, and Dancyg were also retrieved. Munder was believed to be alive until Kibbutz Nir Oz announced his death while in Gaza captivity.
The National Institute of Forensic Medicine, Israel Police, and the IDF Manpower Directorate’s Hostage Team conducted an identification procedure of the bodies and notified their families and communities.
Nadav Popplewell
Popplewell, 51 years old, was kidnapped from Nirim on October 7. In June, the IDF announced he had been killed in Hamas captivity.
Kibbutz Nirim said that he loved books and science fiction.
Popplewell was taken hostage along with his mother, Channah Peri, who was released in the November 2023 hostage deal following 49 days in Gaza captivity. Both were taken from their home’s safe room. Popplewell’s brother Roi, aged 54, was murdered on October 7.
Yagev Buchshtab
Buchshtab, 35 years old, was seized from Kibbutz Nirim on October 7 along with his wife Rimon Kirsht Buchshtab, 36, who was released on November 28, 2023 as part of the hostage deal.
In July, the IDF announced he had been killed in Gaza captivity. Buchshtab was a sound technician and had a passion for music.
Yoram Metzger
Metzger, 80 years old, was seized from Nir Oz on October 7. In June, the IDF announced he had been killed while in Hamas captivity. He is survived by his wife, Tamar, who was kidnapped along with him and released in the November hostage deal, three children, and seven grandchildren.
At the kibbutz, Yoram worked in the Nirlat factory and as a kibbutz mechanic.
Haim Peri
Peri, 79, was kidnapped from kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7. In June, the IDF announced he had been killed in Hamas captivity.
“On the day of the massacre in the kibbutz, Haim managed to save his wife Asnat before being kidnapped himself. He survived in inhumane conditions in the Hamas tunnels for months, until he was brutally murdered in captivity,” the kibbutz wrote in a statement in August.
Peri was a father of five, a grandfather to 13, a peace activist, and the founder of an art gallery. He also taught at Sapir College.
Alexander Dancyg
Dancyg, 76 years old, was kidnapped from Nir Oz on October 7. In July, the IDF announced he had been killed in Gaza captivity.
Born to Holocaust survivors, Dancyg was an educator and historian who worked at Yad Vashem for nearly 30 years. He was one of the founders of educational delegations to Poland and led many of them.
Avraham Munder
Munder was kidnapped from kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7. Munder fought and was wounded in the Six-Day War, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
Munder’s nephew told KAN Reshet Bet earlier that his uncle’s body had been recovered from Gaza and that “it’s sad that a person who participated in liberating Jerusalem and answered the call to develop communities in the Negev had his life ended by being thrown aside in a tunnel in Khan Yunis.”
He lived in Kibbutz Nir Oz for more than 50 years and took part in the Eshkol choir.
He was kidnapped to the Gaza Strip on October 7 along with his wife Ruti, his daughter Keren, and his nine-year-old grandson Ohad, who was released in the November 2023 hostage deal following 49 days in captivity.
Hostage Families Forum responds
After the results of the probe were published, the Hostage Families Forum provided a statement, saying, “After 425 agonizing days, the investigation’s findings serve as yet another proof that the lives of hostages face constant, daily danger. Time is of the essence – many of the hostages are still alive and enduring impossible conditions of abuse, starvation, and isolation.”
“As President-elect Donald Trump has emphasized – they must be released before he takes office – They will not survive captivity until then. The current and incoming American administration, along with mediating countries, must do everything necessary to achieve a deal for the hostages’ return.”
Gadi Zaig, Yael Helfon, and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.
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