Troops find bodies of 5 hostages in Gaza tunnel
(IDF)
A photo posted on the Shin Bet Instagram platform showed a Palestinian prisoner wearing an IDF uniform, with his hands cuffed, accompanying the troops who uncovered the bodies of five Israelis in Gaza earlier this week.
"It is hard to express the emotions in such an operation," a Shin Bet operative said in a statement that accompanied the photograph. "Everything flows to that one moment when you understand that you are in the right place," he said.
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Cuffed Palestinian prisoner with troops uncovering bodies of hostages
(Photo: Shin Bet Instagram )
I know that hundreds stand behind the coordinates when we uncover the bodfies – the interrogators, commanders, field and operational operatives, intelligence personnel, IDF troops and others. Returning the hostages, dead or alive, is our life's mission."
The security agency said earlier that the intelligence provided by Palestinian terrorists captured in the Strip indicated the location of the bodies and enabled their extraction.
The tunnel was not guarded by terrorists but had been concealed well in the area where the IDF had operated earlier in the year to destroy Hamas tunnels. According to the military, the terrorists hid the bodies after the troops left, in early spring.
Engineering Corp troops had inspected the tunnels before they were destroyed, at the time, to ensure there were no hostages or bodies, in them. The five bodies found in the recent extraction were hidden in a tunnel running some 200 meters long and 20 meters deep underground. They were at the very end of the tunnel near chambers, toilets and underground living facilities that can testify to the tunnel's importance for Hamas.