Booby-Trapped Tunnel Leading to Israeli Hostage Bodies Found Beneath Gaza Children’s Playroom

Jerusalem, 5 September, 2024 (TPS) -- The entrance to a shaft leading to the tunnel in Rafah where six Israeli hostages were executed was located inside a child’s play area, the Israel Defense Forces said, releasing photos.

The shaft led to the tunnel in which the bodies of six hostages — Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alex Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and MSG Ori Danino — were recovered. Next to the shaft’s entrance were stuffed animals and wall art of cartoon characters in a children’s playroom.

Soldiers investigating the shaft found it “extensively booby-trapped,” the IDF added.

“This is a further example of how Hamas abuses civilian areas to hold hostages and carry out its terrorist activities.”

Meanwhile, Israeli aircraft struck a joint Hamas-Palestinian Islamic Jihad command and control center embedded in a humanitarian area of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza overnight.

The IDF said the strike was conducted to remove “an immediate threat,” and that steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions and aerial surveillance.

At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 97 remaining hostages, more than 30 have been declared dead. Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014.