PREVIEW

These images and this footage show cartoons of Disney characters at what the Israel Defense Forces say is the entrance to the tunnel in which the bodies of six hostages executed by Hamas were found.

IDF forces located the bodies in an underground tunnel in the Rafah area of southern Gaza on Saturday.

The IDF named the hostages as Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Master Sgt Ori Danino.

In a statement the IDF said: “The shaft leading to the tunnel in which the bodies of the hostages Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alex Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and MSG Ori Danino were recovered from was located next to stuffed animals and wall art of cartoon characters in a children’s play area.

“The troops of the 162nd Division and the ISA located the shaft leading to the tunnel in an area surrounded by the enemy and extensively booby-trapped. This is a further example of how Hamas abuses civilian areas to hold hostages and carry out its terrorist activities.”

Hamas suggested on Monday that the recently executed hostages were executed because Israeli forces were close to rescuing them.

A spokesperson for the militant Islamist group, classified as terrorists by the UK, US, and EU, threatened to kill other hostages if Israeli troops “approached their place of detention”.

The recovery of the bodies provoked both anger at Hamas, whose attacks on Israel on 7 October last year killed around 1,200 people and took around 250 hostages, and calls on Israel’s government to agree a hostage deal.

It is believed Hamas still hold 97 hostages, although 33 are presumed dead.
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