Israeli hostages’ last act of courage: Prisoners ‘tried to fend off their Hamas killers before being executed’
According to reports from the Israeli military, several of the six Israeli hostages slaughtered by Hamas hostages in Gaza last month attempted to defend themselves against their killers.
Israel’s Channel 12 News reported that IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari briefed some of the bereaved families of the six people brutally deprived of their lives on the details of their captivity and how they were executed.
Hagari informed the families of the alleged initial findings of the IDF investigation into the brutal killings and showed them footage recorded inside the Rafah tunnel, where they were taken hostage and murdered.
The IDF suspects that the six hostages, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23 – an Israeli-American – Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Carmel Gat, 39, Almog Sarusi, 26, Alex Lubnov, 26, and Master Sergeant Ori Danino, 25, were killed 10 days ago – about a day before the IDF discovered the tunnel.
“Several of the six reportedly defended themselves and fought with those who shot at them,” the report said.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin was one of six hostages whose bodies were recovered on August 31. He was among the victims held hostage by Hamas during the October 7 massacre.
Eden Yerushalmi was also abducted from the Nova music festival and weighed only 80 pounds when the IDF discovered her body, her family was recently informed
Ori Danino was captured by Hamas on October 7 from the Nova Music Festival
The report further reveals that there were no ventilation openings in the narrow tunnel, making it difficult for the hostages to breathe.
There were no toilets or showers, meaning the hostages – who were kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7 massacre – had to wash with bottled water they drank from.
Other chilling details include that protein bars were found scattered throughout the cramped tunnel as the hostages were given little to eat.
Yerushalmi, 24, weighed only 80 pounds (36 kilograms) when his body was found.
According to the report, IDF officers also found a generator and a small flashlight, which did not have much power, along with a chess set, pens and notepads, which they then passed on to the respective families.
Members of one of the family members, who were not named, told Channel 1 that the hostages “did everything to survive in impossible conditions… and in the end Hamas killed them.”
“Their only demand was that the government save them, and the government has failed in its mission,” they added.
Channel 13 also reported that forensics showed that “Hersh, Ori, Alex and Almog defended Eden and Carmel” while they were trapped in the narrow tunnel.
The bodies of the six hostages were On August 31, the animal was found in an underground tunnel in the Rafah area and officially identified in IsraelThis was a military statement at the time.
An initial autopsy on September 1 revealed that they had been shot multiple times at close range just two or three days earlier.
It was also revealed that three of the six hostages found dead in the Gaza tunnel would be released the next day in a prisoner swap, a senior Hamas official claimed.
“Some of the names of the prisoners found by the (Israeli) occupier… were part of the list of hostages to be released by Hamas” in a possible exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, the anonymous official said.
Almog Sarusi, 26, was enjoying the rave when Hamas terrorists attacked
Carmel Gat visited her family in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7
Alex Lobanov, 26, was the head bartender at the festival
The aftermath of an attack on the Supernova music festival by Hamas gunmen, October 9
“Hersh, Carmel and Eden were all on the list of hostages that were supposed to be released in the Biden ceasefire proposal on July 2. We could have saved them,” the official said.
Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said their Hamas killers shot them “in cold blood.” They riddled them with bullets… They shot them in the back of the head.
They were among 251 hostages taken during the October 7 surprise attack on a music festival in southern Israel by Palestinian militants.
About 100 hostages are still being held, dozens of whom are dead, according to the Israeli military.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog used X, formerly Twitter, earlier this month to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in devastating ways.
“The heart of an entire nation has been shattered… On behalf of the State of Israel, I embrace their families with all my heart and apologize for not being able to bring them home safely.”
Herzog also emphatically confirmed that Israel will continue to fight Hamas “relentlessly.”
“The blood of our brothers cries out to us. Our sisters and brothers are still here, suffering hell. The highest covenant between the state and its citizens is to ensure their safety. We have the sacred and urgent mission to bring them home,” he concluded the message.
The brutal war between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7, when the Palestinian Islamist group attacked an Israeli music festival in southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
At least 40,691 Palestinians have been killed and 94,060 wounded in Israeli counterattacks in Gaza, the Hamas-run Health Ministry in the enclave said in a statement last month.