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‘Hamas Hid Behind Civilians’: Entrance to Tunnel Where Murdered Hostages Found Was in Child’s Play Area, IDF Says
A combination picture shows undated handout images of hostages Ori Danino, Carmel Gat, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, and Almog Sarusi, who were kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attacks, and whose bodies have been found underground in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip and returned to Israel, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict. Photo: Courtesy of Bring Them Home Now/Handout via REUTERS
The entrance to the tunnel in Gaza where six Israeli hostages were found murdered by Hamas terrorists this past weekend was in a children’s play area, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), underscoring Hamas’s extensive use of civilian infrastructure as protection for its military activity.
“Our troops found drawings, stuffed animals, and the tunnel entrance to where 6 Israeli hostages were held for over 300 days in a terrorist tunnel,” the IDF wrote on X/Twitter on Wednesday.
Video and pictures of the site showed paintings of Disney characters Mickey Mouse and Cinderella on the wall, with a large hole in the ground going down into a tunnel.
The IDF said it was a place where “a child should be safe, not used as human shields for Hamas.”
Our troops found drawings, stuffed animals and the tunnel entrance to where 6 Israeli hostages were held for over 300 days in a terrorist tunnel. The hostages were murdered in cold blood by Hamas.
Hamas hid behind their civilians in order to kill ours. pic.twitter.com/lWTfCt3gqS
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) September 4, 2024
On Saturday, the Israeli military recovered the bodies of six hostages taken by Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists during their Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Five of the hostages — Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, and Almog Sarusi — were kidnapped from the Nova music festival, and one — Carmel Gat — was taken from Kibbutz Be’eri.
They were reportedly executed shortly before the IDF arrived, and Hamas indicated that it murdered the hostages because Israeli troops were nearby.
The video of the entrance to the tunnel where the hostages were found underscored the fact that, since Oct. 7, there has been extensive documentation showing Hamas systematically using civilians and civilian infrastructure as shields for its military operations.
Senior Israeli officials told The New York Times in January that the tunnel system built by Hamas was estimated to be up to 450 miles long — winding under the surface of the Gaza Strip. To put the extent of the system in perspective, Gaza as a whole is only 141 square miles.
The Times added: “Hamas has improved its ability to conceal the tunnels, but the senior official said the Israeli military had figured out one of the group’s operating models. The official called it the ‘triangle.’ Whenever the Israeli military finds a school, a hospital or a mosque, soldiers know they can expect to locate an underground tunnel system beneath them, the official said.”
Additionally, videos that Hamas has released of its combat often show its fighters in civilian clothing and even using humanitarian aid to prop up rockets.
Such practices are not a consequence of a lack of equipment but rather a matter of strategy. In June, The Wall Street Journal reported that trying to maximize civilian casualties has been part of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s “brutal calculation” on how to win the war.
Sinwar spoke clearly about how he saw his strategy of putting civilians in danger for the cause of destroying Israel: “These are necessary sacrifices,” he said.
The post ‘Hamas Hid Behind Civilians’: Entrance to Tunnel Where Murdered Hostages Found Was in Child’s Play Area, IDF Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Singer Noa Kirel Leads New Rom-Com Series With Argentine Pop Star Agustin Bernasconi
Agustín Bernasconi and Noa Kirel co-star in the new series “NOA.” Photo: Provided
Israeli singer Noa Kirel is starring alongside Argentine actor and fellow pop singer Agustín Bernasconi in a new music-centered romantic comedy series that will begin filming in March, The Algemeiner has learned.
The 25-episode series “NOA,” which will be filmed entirely in Argentina, is a global co-production from Argentina’s FAM Contenidos and Israel’s entertainment studio Sipur.
In the series, Noa (Kirel) travels to Argentina to meet her boyfriend, after months of having a long-distance relationship, but things don’t turn out the way she thought they would. She then meets Tomy (Bernasconi), “a young man who tries to reconcile with his past and forge a new life away from music, all while Noa begins a journey of discovery in search of her musical identity, while dealing with pressure from her parents and her new reality in Buenos Aires,” according to a provided synopsis.
Kirel is a singer, rapper, songwriter, dancer, and actress. She competed on behalf of Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023 and finished third with her song “Unicorn.” She was also formerly a judge on “Israel’s Got Talent.”
Bernasconi is an Argentine actor, singer, composer, and musician, with over 100 million views on YouTube.
“It will be a great experience to star in the series with Noa,” said Bernasconi. “She is an exceptional artist, and we complement each other very well.”
“NOA” producer and Dori Media Group founder Yair Dori, who originated the series, said: “I am very proud to be part of this great project, which I believe will have a very solid performance worldwide.”
Sipur CEO Emilio Schenker added: “NOA marks the beginning of our co-financing and co-producing major IP franchises globally. I can’t think of a better team or first project to invest in outside of Israel. It fits perfectly with our mandate to bring high-quality fiction, documentary, and unscripted projects to the world through high-level strategic partnerships and the support of powerful investors.”
Sipur’s latest projects include the Hebrew-language scripted drama series “Bad Boy,” from original “Euphoria” creator and Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Ron Leshem and Hagar Ben-Asher. Netflix acquired streaming rights for “Bad Boy” in November 2024. Sipur’s recent works also include the medical thriller series “Heart of a Killer,” starring “Tehran” lead actress Niv Sultan, the documentary “We Will Dance Again,” “The Devil’s Confession: The Lost Eichmann Tapes,” and the documentary series “Munich ’72” about the Palestinian terrorist attack on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany.
The showrunners for “NOA” are Alejandro Cacetta and Mili Roque Pitt, and the director is Mauro Scandolari.
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Freed Hamas Hostage Agam Berger Begs Trump to Help Get Israeli Captives Home: ‘Don’t Stop Until All Are Back’
Released Israeli hostage, Agam Berger, a soldier who was seized from her army base in southern Israel during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, is reunited with her parents following her release, in a handout photo obtained by Reuters on Jan. 30, 2025. Photo: Israel Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS
Former Hamas hostage Agam Berger urged US President Donald Trump to continue pushing for the release of the remaining Israeli hostages in a Hebrew-language video message that the president shared on his Truth Social app on Monday night.
A soldier in the Israel Defense Forces, Berger, 20, also thanked Trump for helping to secure her release from Hamas captivity in Gaza last month.
“I want to take this chance to say to you, President Trump: Thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you’ve done and continue to do for the hostages,” Berger said in the clip. “Thanks to you, we’re home. But we must remember there are still people who truly depend on you and are waiting for you to save them. They’re waiting for your help and you have the power to do it.”
Berger was kidnapped from the IDF’s Nahal Oz military base on Oct. 7, 2023, along with four other Israeli soldiers. Dozens of IDF soldiers were murdered at the military outpost. Berger was released from Hamas captivity in January a week after four of her fellow IDF soldiers, as part of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and the US-designated terrorist organization.
The ceasefire deal took effect the day before Trump entered office last month and it put a pause to the 15-month war in Gaza. The agreement was mediated by the outgoing Biden and incoming Trump administrations, and the framework of the agreement was agreed upon last year.
“I beg you, don’t stop until all the hostages, both living and deceased, are brought back as quickly as possible,” Berger also told Trump in her video message. She then talked about her time in Hamas captivity, saying: “I went through many hardships there. The days didn’t pass. They stood still. Every night and day felt eternity. That’s how those [hostages] still feel there.”
“We must act fast to bring everyone home. They’re just waiting to be rescued,” she added.
Monday marked 500 days since Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists infiltrated southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, slaughtered 1,200 people, and took 251 hostages back to the Gaza Strip. Seventy-three men, women, and children remain in Hamas captivity. The bodies of four deceased hostages will be returned to Israel on Thursday, two days before the next round of living hostages will be released.
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Ritchie Torres Calls for Hamas to Be ‘Eradicated’ Following Group’s Announcement of Bibas Children Deaths
Ofri Bibas Levy, whose brother Yarden (34) was taken hostage with his wife Shiri (32) and 2 children Kfir (10 months) and Ariel (4), holds with her friend Tal Ulus pictures of them during an interview with Reuters, as the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas continues, in Geneva, Switzerland, Nov. 13, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) on Tuesday called for Hamas to be “eradicated from the face of the earth” after the Palestinian terrorist group said that its two youngest hostages, Kfir and Ariel Bibas, would be among the four Israeli bodies returned to the Jewish state later this week as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal.
Hamas announced that it would release the bodies of four hostages to Israel on Thursday, including two-year-old Kfir Bibas and his five-year-old brother Ariel. They were nine months and four years old, respectively, at the time of their abduction. The body of their mother, Shiri Bibas, is also expected to be included in Thursday’s hostage releases.
“The cold-blooded murder of an infant is as barbaric a crime against humanity as one can commit. Hamas has murdered the Bibas family, including Kfir who was only 9 months old at the time of his abduction,” Torres posted on social media in response to the news.
The Bibas brothers and their mother were among the roughly 250 hostages taken captive by Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists during their Oct. 7, 2023, rampage across southern Israel, which also included the murder of 1,200 people. Their father, Yarden Bibas, was also abducted but was released by Hamas earlier this month.
“A terrorist organization that murders babies in cold blood cannot be allowed to stand. Hamas must be removed from power and eradicated from the face of the earth,” Torres wrote.
Torres, a progressive lawmaker from a heavily liberal and Democratic district, has emerged as a stalwart ally of Israel. Since his arrival in the US Congress, Torres has been highly outspoken against antisemitism, oftentimes criticizing fellow liberals over their unwillingness to combat bigotry against the Jewish community. Torres has criticized efforts to withhold arms from Israel and has repeatedly called for the immediate release of hostages from Gaza.
The fate of the Bibas family has long loomed over the consciousness of the Jewish state in the 16 months following the Hamas-led Oct. 7 slaughters. Both Bibas siblings, the two youngest individuals taken captive by Hamas, have been prominently featured on Israeli promotional materials bringing attention to the remaining hostages in Gaza.
Hamas declared in November 2023 that the Bibas siblings had been killed as a result of an Israeli airstrike. Hamas did not present evidence for its claim.
Israel has not confirmed the accuracy of the Hamas announcement regarding the Bibas family.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Bibas family said it had not received confirmation from Israeli authorities on Hamas’s declaration but was “in turmoil” waiting for news about their loved ones.
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