6 Israeli hostages shot multiple times at close range, indicating execution: autopsy report

The six dead hostages including an American citizen that were recovered from a tunnel underneath the Gazan city of Rafah on Saturday were shot multiple times at close range 48 to 72 hours before they were located by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The gunshot wounds indicated that they were executed. ;

Israel’s Health Ministry said Sunday that the hostages were likely executed on Thursday or Friday, according to the results of an examination carried out by Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, per the Times of Israel. ;

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said at a press conference that the six were “brutally murdered” by Hamas shortly before the IDF arrived. “According to an initial assessment… they were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists a short while before we reached them. They were abducted alive on the morning of October 7 by the Hamas terror group.”

He added, “Since Farhan was found, troops were given an emphasis on operating carefully even more than usual, because of the understanding that additional hostages might be in the area. We did not have information on the exact location of the hostages.”

The murdered hostages were identified as Eden Yerushalmi (24), Carmel Gat (39) Almog Sarusi (26) Alex Lubnov (32), and Ori Danino (25), and American Hersh Goldberg-Polin (23) whose parents addressed the Democratic National Convention about his plight last month in Chicago.

According to the Jerusalem Post, the bodies were found located in a tunnel complex approximately 20 meters underground and only one kilometer from where 52-year-old hostage Kaid Farhan al-Alkadi was rescued last week. After he was found, the IDF issued instructions for the military to be extra careful in the area, and a media blackout was dropped on the details of the rescue to protect intelligence that may lead to the location of other hostages.

Channel 12 reported that the Hamas terrorists likely executed the six hostages knowing that the IDF was nearby, fearing that the hostages would be rescued alive and might divulge details about where the other captives were being held.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both opposed the IDF incursion into Rafah, the last remaining Hamas stronghold in Gaza. In March, Biden said he would consider placing conditions on future military aid to Israel if it moved ahead with a Rafah offensive and called an incursion into the city a "red line." Later that month during an interview with ABC, Harris said Israel would face consequences for going into Rafah.



According to IDF International Spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, 101 of the 251 hostages abducted by Palestinian terrorists on October 7, 2023, remain captive in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 33 hostages who have been confirmed dead by the IDF.

Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong ceasefire in November in exchange for hundreds of terrorists. Four hostages were previously released before that and eight hostages have been rescued alive. The bodies of 37 hostages have also been recovered by the IDF.

In addition to the hostages kidnapped on Oct. 7, Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Gaza Strip in 2014 and 2015 and the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.