Military: Slain Hostages Were Held in 'Horrific Conditions'

Israel released video Tuesday of the tunnel under Gaza where six hostages were held in grim conditions before they were killed by their Hamas captors. The video shows Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari entering the tunnel, where the roof was too low for him to stand upright, Ynetnews reports. "Let the whole world see the evil and understand the cruelty," he said.

• "Horrific" conditions. Hagari said it was difficult to breathe in the narrow tunnel, which was 70 feet underground and stretched for around 120 yards, the AP reports. It was around 5 feet high and 30 inches wide. "They were here in this tunnel in horrific conditions, where there's no air to breathe, where you cannot stand," he said. The video shows bottles of urine and a bucket that had apparently been used as a toilet. Hagari said the tunnel's entrance was concealed in a child's bedroom in Rafah.

• Hostages were there for weeks. The Israeli military believes the six hostages were held together in the tunnel for weeks, the Wall Street Journal reports. They found supplies including water tanks, protein bars, cans of tuna, soap, and shampoo.
• They were killed the night before the military reached the tunnel. The military said the hostages, who had been in captivity for 11 months, were killed on Aug. 29, the night before Israeli forces reached the tunnel, NBC News reports. The military believes they were killed by two gunmen using separate weapons.
• Bodies. The bodies of the six hostages—Israeli-American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23; Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; Alexander Lobanov, 33; and Carmel Gat, 40—were scattered along the tunnel, the military said. Hagari said there was a "probability" that two militants killed running away from the tunnel complex were the ones who executed the hostages, the AP reports.

• Malnutrition. A group representing the families of hostages said the information released by the military exposed "an utterly horrific reality" that shows the remaining hostages are in "grave danger," the New York Times reports. The Hostages Families Forum said autopsies showed the hostages "suffered from significant malnutrition, severe weight loss, and long-term physical neglect."
• Families speak out. "These are the most horrific conditions I saw in my life," said Gil Dickmann, a cousin of Carmel Gat, per the Journal. "And to think they survived this and succeeded in being there for perhaps weeks." Shai Dickmann, another cousin, told Israel's Channel 13 TV that Israel should immediately reach a deal to release the remaining hostages, the AP reports. "There are still people living like this," she said. "If there had been a deal on time, Carmel would be sitting here."

(More Israel-Hamas war stories.)