Anyhoo…in mid-January, the IDF confirmed it was operating in cemeteries where intelligence indicated that the bodies of Israeli hostages may have been buried.
The military’s statement added, “If not for Hamas’s reprehensible decision to take Israeli men, women, children and babies hostage, the need for such searches for our hostages would not exist.”
Around 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on Oct. 7. The number of men, women and children held captive in Gaza by Hamas is now believed to be 136, although some of them have been murdered while in captivity.
Israeli soldiers discovered an underground tunnel running beneath a cemetery in Khan Yunis, the Israel Defense Forces said on Monday.
The tunnel was located directly below the Bani Suheila cemetery by troops from the IDF’s 98th Division. Bani Suheila was one of several cemeteries the army was accused of desecrating in recent Western media reports. Damn Jews & their desecrating of Hamas Tunnels under cemeteries, & such.
“While investigating the tunnel, the forces came across explosives, sliding doors and blast-proof doors, and eliminated terrorists who were inside,” the IDF statement said. The IDF said the shaft was one kilometer long and 20 meters below the cemetery, adding that it was part of a larger underground network.
“Inside the tunnel route, the forces located an office from which a Khan Yunis Brigade battalion commander managed the attack on October 7, an operations room, a command and control centre, and the living quarters of senior officials of the Hamas terrorist organization. The tunnel was also used by Hamas to command their attacks against IDF forces both above and below ground.” Etc..
Inside the tunnel, the IDF found an office from which a Hamas Khan Yunis Brigade battalion commander managed the attack on Oct. 7
nationalpost.com
Combat engineers destroyed the tunnel.
Hamas said on Tuesday it had received and was studying a new proposal for a ceasefire and release of hostages in Gaza, presented by mediators after talks with Israel, in what appeared to be the most serious peace initiative for months.
A senior Hamas official told Reuters the proposal involved a three-stage truce, during which the group would first release remaining civilians among hostages it captured on Oct. 7, then soldiers, and finally the bodies of hostages that were killed.
The developments come hours after Israeli commandos killed three Palestinian militants in an undercover raid on a hospital in the occupied West Bank
www.theglobeandmail.com
