(l. to r.) Top row: Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Hersh Goldberg-Polin; Bottom row: Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, Carmel Gat (Courtesy of the families)
The six hostages were believed to have been used as human shields by Yahya Sinwar.
In a video discovered by the IDF in the Gaza tunnel where 6 hostages were executed in August, Hamas terrorists are watching demonstrations on television and discussing an Israeli hostage.
The video shows Hamas terrorists watching hostage demonstrations on Al Jazeera and recognizing the image of one of the hostages murdered in the tunnel, Almog Sarusi, held up at the demonstration.
The video was published on Kan and was released with the permission of the Sarusi family.
It was found on a flash drive recovered in the same tunnel the six hostages were held and murdered in the city of Rafah.
The six hostages, believed to have been used as human shields for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, were executed in the tunnel as Hamas terrorists realized the IDF were approaching.
The six hostages killed by Hamas in the tunnel are: Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Ori Danino, 25; Alex Lobanov, 32; Carmel Gat, 40, and Almog Sarusi, 27
In the video, the terrorists are not seen on the camera, but their voices are heard speaking in Arabic as they watch the demonstration on television.
The two men said:
“Yes, there he is — Almog Sarusi,” one of them says, pausing the television report.
“Yes, he has long hair,” says the other.
“They set up a sort of encampment,” one of the voices adds.
“The ones who are lifting up the photos of [the hostages] — those are their families,” the other says.
According to reports and DNA evidence, the six hostages who were executed in late August were used as human shields.
Sinwar was eliminated by chance during an IDF operation in Rafah, not far away from where the six hostages were killed by their captors.
When the IDF recovered the bodies of the hostages on August 31, they also discovered DNA from Sinwar indicating he had been in the area at some point between August 21 and August 27.
Reports from early in the war that Sinwar was hiding in Gaza tunnels and using hostages as human shields, and the DNA, location, and reports connect the six slain hostages to Sinwar.
The IDF had opportunities to assassinate Sinwar earlier in the war, but his use of hostages as human shields proved an obstacle to these operations.
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