Hamas Terror Tunnel, Where Six Hostages Found Dead, Has Entryway in Children’s Play Area
Near the secret shaft were children’s drawings, stuffed animals, and murals of cartoon characters.
The underground tunnel, where six hostages were found executed by the terrorist group Hamas, had a secret entry point located inside a yard used as a children’s play area.
In a video posted on X by Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday, a soldier is seen inside the play area explaining to viewers that they uncovered the secret access point in Rafah after receiving intelligence about its location.
“As you can see, the tunnel was hidden in a child’s yard, a place where a child should be safe, and not used as a human shield for Hamas,” the unidentified soldier said in the short video.
The covered shaft way was found hidden on the floor of the yard area, which is seen in photos and videos strewn with debris including children’s drawings and stuffed animals, murals of cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse and Snow White, and the word “love” in bubble letters over a red heart.
“This is another example of Hamas’s cynical use of civilian space for terrorist activity,” read a statement from IDF officials released on Wednesday.
The tunnel and its access point were discovered by IDF soldiers on September 1 in which they found the bodies of five Israeli nationals and one American during combat operations.
An IDF Spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, said to reporters earlier this week that the hostages “were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists shortly before we reached them.”
The deaths of the hostages have led to complications in ceasefire talks and led to protests across Israel, with participants blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to protect the hostages who were in Hamas captivity for 11 months. Israel’s largest labor union, the General Federation of Labor (Histadrut), called for a nationwide strike, also in response.
“We are in a downward spiral, and we don’t stop receiving body bags,” Histadrut Chairman Arnon Bar-David said Monday. “Only a strike would shock, and that’s why I’ve decided that starting tomorrow at 6 in the morning, the entire Israeli economy will shut down.”