Israeli soldiers uncover Gaza tunnel that once held hostages -army By Reuters

(Corrects spellings in media slug of Jan. 20 story, no change to story textual content)

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -On the finish of a kilometer-long, booby-trapped tunnel within the Gaza Strip, Israeli troopers found cramped cells the place the army mentioned Hamas stored about 20 hostages.

They discovered a holding space, 5 slender rooms behind steel bars, bogs, mattresses, and even drawings by a toddler hostage who was freed throughout a November truce, army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari mentioned.

No hostages had been there when it was found.

The army launched images from the underground labyrinth and mentioned it introduced in journalists to doc the tunnel earlier than it was destroyed.

The tunnel entrance, Hagari mentioned, was in the home of a Hamas member within the southern Gaza metropolis of Khan Younis, the place Israel has been focusing its combat in current weeks in opposition to the Palestinian Islamist group.

“The troopers entered the tunnel the place they encountered terrorists, participating in a battle that ended with the elimination of the terrorists,” Hagari mentioned.

The tunnel was rigged with blast doorways and explosives, he mentioned.

“Based on the testimonies now we have, about 20 hostages had been held on this tunnel at completely different occasions underneath harsh circumstances with out daylight, in dense air with little oxygen, and horrible humidity that makes respiratory troublesome,” he mentioned.

A number of the hostages stored there have been freed throughout the week-long Qatari-mediated truce. Others are among the many greater than 130 captured throughout Hamas’ Oct. 7 rampage by southern Israel which can be nonetheless in Gaza.