The IDF operation to locate and extract the bodies of three Israelis murdered in the Hamas massacre on October 7, and taken to Gaza, was the result of meticulous and diligent work by intelligence and ground forces, the IDF said on Tuesday, a week after troops returned slain Orion Hernandez, Michel Nisenbaum and Hanan Yablonka, home for burial.
The military began its search after confiscating a camera in a Hamas lookout position in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza after killing the terrorist lookout deployed there.
The images recorded on the camera showed terrorists arriving in a truck into a cul-de-sac in the camp used by the Hamas Nukhba force, removing three bodies and carrying them into a building.
Intelligence analysts then began searching other footage and information and found images taken on or soon after October 7, where terrorists were seen in Jabaliya, removing three bodies from a vehicle and taking them into a building in the camp. A few minutes later the terrorists emerged with three wrapped bodies and placed them on their vehicle before driving away.
The building where the bodies were taken collapsed in an IDF strike, covering an entrance to a tunnel shaft, beneath the rubble. But the IDF believed it was where bodies of captives could be found.
A massive effort then began to determine where and how to locate an entrance to the tunnel. Using heavy equipment the forces dug a 25-meter (82-foot)deep crater leading into the tunnel but soon realized they had to go even deeper and dug a further 15-meters ( 50 feet) to reach an entrance.
They summoned a force from the elite Yahalom unit of the Engineering Corps to investigate the tunnel and clear it from explosives.
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An IDF soldier in a Hamas dug underground tunnel in Gaza where the bodies of slain Israelis were kept
(Photo: IDF)
After a few hours of work, the troops reported back that three bodies were found but it was still necessary to ensure that they were not booby trapped. Finally they were retrieved from the tunnel and taken back to Israel, where they were identified and returned to their families.