The Israeli military said troops located “a vast tunnel network” under Gaza City that included command and control positions, meeting rooms and hideout apartments for the most senior leaders of Hamas, including Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh.
The top leader of Hamas was in Egypt for talks Wednesday on halting the war in Gaza and securing the release of at least some of the estimated 129 Israeli captives held by Palestinian militants. Hamas said that Haniyeh, who is believed to be based in Qatar, would discuss the war with Egyptian officials, without providing more details.
Here's what's happening in the war:
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said troops located “a vast tunnel network” under Gaza City that included command and control positions, meeting rooms and hideout apartments for the most senior leaders of Hamas, including Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh.
Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesman, said on Wednesday that the rooms were 20 metres (60 feet) underground with elevators, stairs, separate water and electricity shafts, and with water, food, weapons and communications equipment stored for a prolonged stay. He said one of the rooms was an “underground hall” 150 metres (yards) across.
The military shared videos of what it said were the underground structures, showing tunnels with concrete walls, blast doors, ventilation systems, security cameras, electronic equipment, and long staircases descending deep into the earth.
The military said the complex was centred on Palestine Square in central Gaza City, under stores, government offices and civilian apartment buildings.
Hamas is known to have built kilometres (miles) of tunnels, dubbed the “Gaza metro”, under the coastal enclave to operate in safety from Israeli aircraft.
JERUSALEM — A military search dog with a body camera captured audio of three Israeli hostages shouting for help in Hebrew, five days before they were mistakenly shot to death by Israeli troops, according to the army's chief spokesman, Rear Adm Daniel Hagari.
According to new information released Wednesday as part of an ongoing investigation, the dog captured the audio on Dec 10. In the audio, the hostages can be heard shouting in Hebrew the words “help,” “hostages” and two of their names, “Alon” and “Yotam”.
Soldiers had sent the dog into a building the Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza City, suspecting that militants were in inside. The dog was shot to death by the militants. The militants were killed in a firefight with Israeli forces.
The Israeli military believes this is how the hostages were able to escape.
The dog's recording was not reviewed until after the hostages were killed days later, as they tried to make themselves known to Israeli forces.
The hostages were shirtless and held a stick with a white cloth as they emerged Friday from a building about a kilometre (mile) from the location that had been searched by the dog. An Israeli sniper killed the first two hostages and the third hostage ran back into the building but was killed by other soldiers chasing him.
Israel's military chief Herzi Halevi has said the shooting was against the military's rules of engagement.
Iris Chaim, the mother of one of the killed hostages, released a recorded message for the military unit involved in the death of her son.
“I know that everything that happened is not your fault. It is the fault of Hamas,” she said, adding that she thought soldiers' actions were “the most right thing to do in that moment”.