The IDF uncovered a major Hamas tunnel below southern Gaza that was converted from a command post to a holding cell, which at one point held at least a dozen hostages, officials said Wednesday.
The tunnel system, spanning more than half-a-mile long, was located in Khan Younis and was the operating base for senior members of the terrorist organization, the IDF said.
Following the Oct. 7 massacre, the base was converted to a hostage-holding facility that contained a large cell where at least 12 hostages had been held at different times, including three who were released back in November, according to the Israeli military.
No prisoners were in the cell when it was discovered by the IDF.
The tunnel system also included a working bathroom and kitchen, as well as a resting area for the terrorists who were guarding the hostages.
“They even took time to make themselves feel at home here,” Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfuss told CNN during a tour of the tunnel.
The IDF also found scores of explosives inside the tunnels, including dozens of grenades and several RPG heads.
IDF troops fought and killed multiple Hamas gunmen who were guarding the cell.
Like other tunnel raids in the past, the soldiers also had to neutralize numerous explosive boobytraps.
Military officials noted that the tunnel was located in the “heart of a civilian area” in Khan Younis, southern Gaza’s largest city where hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled from as the war continues to intensify in the city.
The tunnel was also linked to another underground system where the IDF previously found evidence of other hostages being held in recent weeks.
Israeli officials did not specify which tunnel system it was, but last month they uncovered two in Khan Younis where hostages were held in “horrific conditions,” including one that once held five-year-old Emilia Aloni.
The IDF also did not name the 12 hostages it believes were held in the tunnel, but said it pieced the information together from forensic evidence gathered, as well as the testimony from freed hostages Sahar Calderon, 16, Or Yaakov, 16, and Sapir Cohen, 29.
The information could not be independently verified by media outlets who were allowed to tour the site before it was ultimately blown up and sealed.
The Israeli military is continuing its advancement in Khan Younis as it aims to dismantle Hamas’ tunnel system, locate the more than 130 hostages being held in Gaza, and apprehend the terror group’s local chief Yahya Sinwar.
Sinwar was believed to have at one point been inside the latest destroyed tunnel in Khan Younis, where the Hamas political chief is originally from.
