Summarizing the activities of the 551st Brigade in Jabaliya, the Indonesian Hospital and Sheikh Zayed neighborhood, and the Jabaliya refugee camp, the IDF reveals new details about the complex operation to locate the five bodies of Israeli abductees murdered in Hamas captivity: Ziv Dado, Eden Zakaria (who according to all information was murdered on 5.7), Ron Sherman, Nick Bader and Eliya Toledano).
The abductees who were murdered in captivity. Ziv Dado, Eden Zacharia, Ron Sherman, Nick Beiser and Elia Toledano, Photo: None
According to the information presented in the summary of the activity, the first two bodies were found on 13.12 and a few days later 3 more bodies were found. The operational activity took place in a sector of about one square kilometer on which Hamas headquarters in the area were deployed. The forces went through the tunnel shafts in an attempt to reach the correct shaft that would lead them to the bodies. During the battles, the brigade lost 15 fallen fighters.
The fighters on the ground, which included the 551st Brigade, special intelligence teams and engineering teams, identified a lead that led to two shafts in the Jabaliya refugee camp and on the northern outskirts where the bodies were found. After locating all five bodies, the force continued to operate underground, inter alia by repelling terrorists from reaching there.
According to the details permitted for publication, the brigade operating in the northern Gaza Strip gained operational control of Sheikh Zayed and, after gathering intelligence, including a lead to two bodies that may have been found in the area, worked coordinated efforts to enter the refugee camp. A tunnel was found in the camp with command rooms, prayer rooms and an elevator leading to Hamas' Tel Qataba outpost.
Underground Headquarters
The forces located a headquarters with an elevator that descends deep underground, leading to a hall with production complexes, push rooms, a clinic, and a system of tunnels leading to Jabaliya refugee camp, a neighborhood and a hospital, and an outpost to Qatiba. In addition to working together with a special intelligence team, the brigade force continued to expose the underground space, and at that point in time it was not known where the bodies were.
Deep underground - this is what the terror tunnel in Jabaliya looks like, where the bodies of abductees were found // IDF Spokesperson
After the intelligence puzzle was assembled from the collection of information chips, on 13.12 the force reached the first and second bodies immediately after it. The complex operation included dealing with IEDs in an area, some inside the tunnel shafts and some outside the shafts. A Yahalam engineering team mapped the underground headquarters and, using 13 tons of explosives, detonated the IED scene. Two of the bodies were then removed and the force continued to locate the three remaining bodies in the compound.
The IDF notes that any force that reaches an area about which there is information about abductees will operate there. Meanwhile, the army explains that, naturally, there are differences in risk to our forces between the rescue of bodies and the risk of rescuing live hostages.
As part of the fierce battles in the area, 179 terrorists were eliminated in dozens of clashes. The army identified Hamas using the local population for its own protection, shooting at the forces by white-flagged terrorists and shooting at the fighters from a women's association. The IDF also found evidence of the execution of a family that fled by Hamas.
At the same time, the force destroyed infrastructure, the homes of senior officials, and collected documents and technical equipment. 100 buildings and an underground system were destroyed by Yahalam.
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