Startling look inside Hamas tunnel where hostages were kept

Israel’s military gave a startling inside look Thursday at a key Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza — after finding proof that some of the terrorists’ hostages had been held there in horrific conditions.

The tunnel was discovered by the Israel Defense Forces’s Commando Brigade and other special forces in Khan Younis, southern Gaza’s largest city that has seen the most intense fighting in recent weeks.

“After investigating the tunnel, it can be said that there were Israeli hostages in it,” the IDF said after DNA was found of some of the captives.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the IDF’s chief spokesman, did not say what exactly was found in the tunnel, nor what the DNA was found on.

He also did not identify the hostages traced there, nor reveal if they are believed to be alive — merely saying the hostages had been held in “difficult conditions.”

A video tour uploaded on social media shows the sprawling underground tunnel system, which was accessed via ladder through an 8-foot shaft located “in the heart of a civilian area” in Khan Younis.

The arched tunnel led to a long, dark stairwell that connected to multiple corridors and underground rooms, one of which featured trash and electrical wires littered across the floor.

The tunnel system also had working plumbing, as evident by a small bathroom located at the end of one of the hallways where the DNA samples had been found.

The IDF added that the tunnel system connected to various entrances in other civilian areas in Khan Younis, where hundreds of thousands of refugees had gathered following mass evacuations in northern Gaza earlier in the war.

One of the exits led to an apartment complex that was largely destroyed by the fighting, with another leading to a civilian residential space that was also left in ruins.

Western media outlets were for the first time also invited to tour the tunnels.

Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfus, commander of the Israeli military’s 98th Division, told CNN’s Nic Robertson that the military has narrowed the location of some hostages to tunnels beneath Khan Younis.

Goldfus said the goal is to destroy the man-made tunnel system to rescue the hostages and take out Hamas’ key advantage in the war in Gaza, describing the underground shafts a “720-degree threat.”

“It’s not 360, but it’s 720, underground and overground,” Goldfus said of the coverage provided by the tunnels.

Division 98 troops are continuing to fight in other Hamas tunnel systems located across Khan Younis, with members of the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit focused on finding, studying, and destroying the 300-mile-long “Gaza Metro.”

Israel also believes that Hamas’ top brass, including Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar, is hiding out in a tunnel beneath Khan Younis.

The Israeli military has touted that more than 300 tunnel shafts have been located in recent days, with more than a third of the underground corridors now destroyed and put out of commission.

Despite the advancements, the IDF has yet to locate or free any of the more than 130 hostages still being held by Hamas and its allies.

About 20 of the hostages are believed to be dead, according to Israel, which accuses Hamas of not handing the corpses over for burial.

With Post wires