TEL AVIV — Hamas executed the six hostages recently found dead in Gaza the night before Israeli forces reached the tunnel where they were being held, government officials said Tuesday night.
The victims, including American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, were killed on the evening of Aug. 29 in Rafah’s Tal Al Sultan neighborhood, the Israel Defense Forces said, citing postmortem examinations of the bodies.
The IDF said it reached the tunnel and made the gruesome discovery on Aug. 30. It's believed two gunmen using two separate weapons killed the half-dozen hostages.
AK-47 magazines and shell casings were found nearby, Israeli officials said.
"It was a hard moment to see the bloodstains on the floor," said Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an IDF spokesperson.
The victims' families have been shown video of the tunnel, about 20 meters underground and 120 meters long, where their loved ones were being held and were later found dead, officials said.
It was a tight fit for anyone inside the tunnel, which was about 5½ feet high, so no one could stand up fully, according to the IDF.
The IDF made some of the video public Tuesday night, showing how the tunnel was dug below a child's bedroom that had paintings of Mickey Mouse and Snow White on the walls.
"This is their blood," Hagari said, pointing at bloodstains in the tunnel.
Hagari spoke to a camera and showed what was left behind, including bottles of beverages, a hairbrush, power chargers and ammunition.
"They were heroes, and they were here in this tunnel for weeks or days; we will find out," Hagari said of the slain hostages. "But they were here in this tunnel in horrific conditions where there is no air to breathe, where you cannot stand. And they survived, but they were murdered by terrorists."
The dead have been identified as Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Master Sgt. Ori Danino.
Their deaths have put more pressure on the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a cease-fire agreement and end the ongoing bloodshed and humanitarian crisis.
“There are still people living like this,” a tearful Shai Dickman, a cousin of Gat’s, told Israel’s Channel 13 TV. “If there had been a deal on time, Carmel would be sitting here.”
More than 40,900 people have been killed in Gaza, health officials in the enclave have said, since Israel launched its offensive in response to Hamas fighters’ invasion on Oct. 7.
About 1,200 people were killed in Israel, and 250 were taken hostage.
"There are still hostages, 101, some of them are alive in the same conditions in tunnels like this in Gaza, and we need to do everything we can ... to bring them back home alive," Hagari said.
At least 19 people were killed and 60 were injured Tuesday when an Israeli airstrike hit a crowded tent camp in a Gaza humanitarian zone, officials said.
The death toll is preliminary and could increase as rescuers dig through rubble, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The Israeli military disputed the death toll and called the action a targeted act against “senior” Hamas militants.