The Israeli military has released footage showing the inside of what it said was a massive Hamas tunnel where five of its hostages captured on October 7 were found dead.
The clip shows IDF soldiers standing in the dark and crowding around the entrance to the underground labyrinth, which is said to lie more than 32 feet beneath schools and hospitals in the town of Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip.
Israel Defense Forces spokesman Eylon Levy said the passageway was “Hamas' northern underground headquarters in Gaza,” adding that the military had carried out a “large-scale dismantling operation” since its discovery.
He said the bodies of three soldiers – Warrant Officer Ziv Dado, Sergeant Ron Sherman and Corporal Nik Beizer – as well as Eden Zacharia and Elia Toledanon – recovered from Nova Festival – were discovered at the site earlier this month.
In a statement issued this evening
Footage released by the IDF shows a dark network of tunnels said to be more than 32 feet underground
Israel Defense Forces spokesman Eylon Levy said the passage was “Hamas’ northern underground headquarters in Gaza.” Pictured: IDF soldiers pray near the tunnel entrance where five Israeli hostages were reportedly found
“In fierce fighting to secure the Hamas stronghold of Jabalia, the IDF uncovered a strategic network of tunnels that served as Hamas's northern headquarters in the Gaza Strip.” “The first level was 10 meters deep beneath the city, the second dozens of meters deep.”
“In Hamas's underground terror network, the IDF has recovered the bodies of five 10/7 hostages: Warrant Officer Ziv Dado, Sergeant Ron Sherman, Corporal Nik Beizer, Eden Zacharia and Elia Toledano. “May their memory be a blessing,” added he added.
In the footage released by the IDF's official social media account, soldiers can be seen praying around the tunnel for the Israelis who had discovered it.
Toledano, 28, was kidnapped from the Nova music festival in southern Israel on October 7. He was brought across the border with his girlfriend Mia Schem, a 21-year-old French-Israeli tattoo artist.
Shem spent 54 days in captivity and was forced by Hamas to appear in a propaganda video calling for her release and saying she would be treated well until she was released in November.
Tragically, the IDF announced that it had found her friend's body. It was not said how or when Toledano died.
Elia Toldeano, 28, died in Hamas captivity in Gaza, the IDF announced
The body of 28-year-old Eden Zecharya was said to have been found in the tunnel by the IDF earlier this month
Zecharya and her boyfriend Ofek Kimhi, 23, who was killed along with 230 others during the attack on the Nova festival
It came days after the military announced that the bodies of 27-year-old Zacharia, who was also taken from the festival, and 36-year-old army officer Ziv Dado had been found.
Zakaria had traveled to the Nova festival with her 23-year-old boyfriend Ofek Kimchi, who was killed in the attack that left more than 260 people dead.
Dado had served as a logistics manager in the 51st Battalion of the Golani Brigade.
Beizer from Be'er Sheva and Scherman from Lehawim were two other IDF soldiers taken hostage while serving in Gaza.
The tunnel is the latest in a series that the IDF says it has found and destroyed.
Earlier this week, dramatic footage released by the IDF appeared to show a large explosion in the “elite district” of Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip.
The military said it uncovered “the terrorist infrastructure” beneath the city late Wednesday and unveiled “offices of Hamas' senior military and political leadership.”
“The tunnel network was destroyed in a controlled manner,” the IDF said in a statement shared on Telegram with the footage.
Beizer (right) from Be'er Sheva and Scherman (left) from Lehavim were both IDF soldiers taken hostage while serving in Gaza. Their bodies were also recovered from the tunnel
Arrest warrant officer Ziv Dado (pictured), 36, who had served as logistics manager, was also found dead in the tunnel, the IDF said
Footage showed Gaza City's “elite district” being leveled by explosions on Thursday
This came as a Washington Post investigation published on Thursday found that there was “no immediate” evidence that rooms connecting Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital to tunnels were used by Hamas for military purposes.
Today Israel announced that 14 of its soldiers killed on Friday and Saturday were killed in fighting in the central and southern Gaza Strip.
According to Israeli Army Radio, four soldiers were killed when their vehicle was hit by an anti-tank missile. The others were killed in separate, sporadic battles.
Another soldier was killed in northern Israel by shelling from the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which has fought low-level fighting with Israel since the war with Hamas erupted, raising fears of a wider regional conflict.
Her death brings to 153 the number of Israeli soldiers killed since the ground offensive began.
According to official figures, Hamas kidnapped around 250 hostages during its attack on Israel on October 7, in which 1,139 people were killed.
Since Israel began its retaliatory strike against the Gaza Strip, more than 20,000 people, mostly women and children, have died and another 50,000 have been injured.