Human Rights Voices

More than three months after their bodies were recovered from Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, an Israel Defense Forces investigation has found that six former hostages were likely executed by their captors amid airstrikes on a Hamas tunnel in February.

Hostages Alex Dancyg, 75, Yagev Buchshtav, 35, Chaim Peri, 79, Yoram Metzger, 80, Nadav Popplewell, 51, and Avraham Munder, 78, were recovered by the IDF from a tunnel in the Hamad Town residential complex of Khan Younis on August 20, months after they were killed.

The IDF’s investigation, which was presented to the families of the six on Wednesday, found it was likely that the captives were shot as a result of the strikes, and that even if they had not been shot, they would have likely died of suffocation or a similar cause, as the bombings sealed off the tunnel in which they were being held.

Days after the six men’s bodies were returned, Hamas terrorists executed six other hostages in Rafah — Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat and Almog Sarusia — as IDF forces approached their position. Those bodies were returned on September 1.

Munder, Dancyg, Peri, and Metzger were all abducted alive by Hamas from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, while Buchshtav and Popplewell were taken hostage from Kibbutz Nirim.

The investigation found that the six men, after being abducted, were taken to a central tunnel in Khan Younis where they were held until late December 2023.

The IDF reached that tunnel, which featured holding cells, in January. By then, the hostages had been moved to another tunnel in Khan Younis, around four kilometers away. The IDF believed that Hamas moved the hostages in late December due to the army’s offensive in Khan Younis.

The hostages were being held in a narrow hidden passageway under Hamad Town that connected to a larger underground network, according to the military’s investigation. The tunnel was similar in its dimensions to the tunnel in southern Gaza’s Rafah where the six other hostages were executed by Hamas terrorists.

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari in a press conference said that the tunnel “was not designed for a long stay, it is only 100 meters long, blocked on one side by sandbags and on the other side with a metal door.”

“Its height makes it difficult to stand in, and it is as wide as a mattress. It is cramped… it has no conditions for humans to live in,” he said.

According to the investigation, the IDF had no information on where the six men were moved, and on February 14, airstrikes were carried out by fighter jets on Hamas tunnels in the Hamad Town area, targeting battalion commanders in the terror group.

The military said that it did not know at the time of any hostages held in the area, and that the strikes were granted all the required approvals.

Hagari said that the strikes were carried out at a distance of around 100-120 meters from where the hostages were being held captive.

Six months later, using new intelligence, the IDF troops reached the site of the strikes and recovered the bodies of the six hostages, all of whom were found to have signs of gunshots on their bodies, indicating with high likelihood that they were executed by the Hamas guards holding them captive.

During the August 20 operation, the IDF also recovered the bodies of six Hamas terrorists from the tunnel. According to findings from the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, the six terror operatives had no gunshot wounds or signs of trauma on their bodies, and they were killed as a “byproduct” of the airstrike, meaning they suffocated or were killed by carbon dioxide poisoning inside the tunnel after the strike sealed them in.

Due to the condition of the bodies, the IDF said it was unable to determine exactly when the hostages were executed or if the cause of death was the gunfire.

The most likely scenario, according to the IDF investigation, is that the hostages were executed very shortly after the Israeli Air Force carried out strikes on the tunnel network on February 14.

Still, the IDF could not rule out the possibility that the hostages were murdered before the strike or that they were killed by other terrorists after the strike.

At any rate, the military believed that the result would have been the same even without the hostages being shot, as they would have died like their captors due to the strike’s effects.

The military investigation also found that Hamas entered the tunnel following the strike in February and before the IDF reached it in August, though they did not recover the bodies of the hostages or the guards.

No exact ballistic match was found between weapons in the tunnel and the bodies of the hostages, raising the possibility that the other operatives took the weapons, or potentially that they shot the captives, though the army considers the latter scenario to be very unlikely.

Peri, Metzger, and Popplewell were declared dead by the army in early June while Dancyg and Buchshtav were confirmed dead by the IDF in late July. Munder was not declared dead by the IDF before his body was recovered, although the army had possessed some information that had raised serious concern for his wellbeing.

IDF soldiers did not encounter any resistance inside the tunnel during the August operation, though forces did kill several gunmen in the surrounding area. Some terror operatives guarding the tunnel fled as Israeli forces established control.

After being presented with the probe on Wednesday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said that the military was “making every effort to bring [the hostages] back.”

“We have made significant achievements, but they are minor so long as there are other hostages [still in Gaza]. The IDF is confident that the fighting advances their return, but in the context of combat we have also made mistakes [and were] not able to bring these hostages home alive,” he said in a statement.

“It is important for the families of the hostages and the entire public to know that thousands of soldiers and commanders are working to succeed and avoid mistakes in this critical mission. Every mistake that occurred was due to lack of knowledge, and we are committed to learning from these mistakes,” Halevi added.

It is believed that 97 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7, 2023, remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF.

Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 37 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.

Hamas is also holding the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014, as well as two Israeli civilians who are both thought to be alive after entering the Strip of their own accord in 2014 and 2015.