Posted on 10/22/2024 8:16:27 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Six Israeli hostages, who were murdered in a tunnel by Hamas terrorists in August, were likely used as human shields to protect the recently killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, according to a Channel 12 report on Sunday.
The hostages, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lobanov and Carmel Gat reportedly lived on energy bars for months before eventually being executed by terrorists in Gaza. On Sept. 1, Israeli forces retrieved the bodies of the murdered hostages in a Rafah tunnel.
Sinwar likely chose these six Israelis as human shields because they were considered particularly valuable assets. For instance, the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin had launched an intense global campaign for their son’s release, meeting with influential world leaders including, U.S. President Joe Biden.
The Channel 12 report indicated that the hostages might have been executed because they became too weak to stay on the move with Sinwar as he fled Israeli forces.
A security source told Channel 12 that Sinwar “didn’t escape with them, because it’s impossible to escape with hostages like them; they have trouble walking, trouble moving.” In addition, the unnamed security source assessed that two of the hostages were women, raising unwanted attention in Rafah, which is reportedly overwhelmingly dominated by men.
The elusive Hamas leader was reportedly killed while hiding alone on the second floor of a building. His bodyguards were eliminated in an adjacent building.
In late November 2023, 105 of the 251 hostages were released as part of an internationally brokered agreement, in which Israel freed convicted terrorists from its prisons.
As Israeli operations progressed across the Gaza Strip, Sinwar and the majority of the remaining Hamas operatives fled further south to Khan Younis and eventually to Rafah, situated on the border between Egypt and Gaza. Hamas also transported many of the remaining hostages to the Rafah area.
An Israeli military offensive against Hamas forces in Rafah was postponed for several months due to strong opposition from the Biden administration and much of the international community who were concerned for the welfare of the hostages.
Hamas terrorists allegedly held the six Israeli hostages in a tunnel 20 meters (65 feet) underground in Rafah, while living in a building above with a shaft leading to the captives. The hostages might have become too weak to move, and one female hostage, Eden Yerushalmi, suffered severe starvation, weighing just 36 kilograms (79 pounds) when her body was recovered.
In late August, Israeli forces later rescued another hostage, Qaid Farhan al-Qadi, from a nearby tunnel, but the captors reportedly killed the six hostages, fearing the Israeli forces were closing in on them.
Sinwar was eventually eliminated in a building not far from the tunnel where the six Israeli hostages were murdered.
Originally published at All Israel News
ALL ISRAEL NEWS is based in Jerusalem and is a trusted source of news, analysis and information from Israel to our Christian friends around the world.
What a philthy islamic organization. A culture that that follows the perfect pattern of human behavior of their so called prophet Mohammad, goes to the mosque on Fridays, grows a beard, says the Shahada, prays 5x a day to the Kabba & barks Islam is the religion of real peace.
It was 1989, and Hamas was in its early stages with only 500 members. Koubi understood the grave danger Israel was facing from this terrorist organization and warned Israeli leaders. “I told them, ‘Let’s eliminate them now when they’re still small before it grows to monstrous proportions.’ They were all in our hands, in our prison. I knew back then that Hamas wouldn’t surrender; they fight to be martyrs. I remember interrogating Sinwar; he had the piercing eyes of a murderer. This man was completely emotionless, a brutal killer. I called him a Nazi and told everyone possible that this organization must be eliminated, but they didn’t listen to me. We found many ‘Mein Kampf’ books in his house as well as rubber knives. He was in charge of education in Gaza and would distribute them in day care to two-year-olds, where they would hold a competition over who would kill more Jews. By the age of four, they would receive wooden guns. Later, when they grew up to be teenagers, he would train them to shoot rifles and teach them how to be martyrs. The same children he trained are the killers of the Nakba today.”
Micha Koubi, Former IDF Special Forces Member, Lectures on Hamas.
Jewish Journal, February 8, 2024.
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