The Ongoing Efforts to Bring Home Every Hostage
IDF Reveals Hostage Recovery Operation and Investigation Findings
Yesterday we announced that in a covert mission , the ISA with support from the IDF, recovered the body of Itai Svirsky from Gaza, nearly a year after he was murdered by Hamas.
Bringing him home for a proper burial provides a small measure of closure to his family and loved ones. One more hostage brought home, tragically too late.
He joins the others brought home through both brave rescue missions and diplomatic means.
But, of course, one hundred still remain.
In this Mission Brief, I’ll walk you through the background on Itai’s abduction and eventual return, as well as the results of our investigation into the death of six other hostages in February, based on an investigation we released yesterday.
The Timeline:
Let me walk you through Itai’s tragic timeline.
Not because it's easy to tell…
But because it needs to be told.
October 7 2023, Itai’s parents Orit and Rafi, are murdered alongside 1,200 other Israelis after Hamas launched its brutal massacre. Itai is abducted alive from his parents' home in Kibbutz Be'eri.
For approximately four months Itai is held captive with Yossi Sharabi and Noa Argamani.
In January 2024, The IDF confirms that Itai has been murdered in captivity alongside Yossi Sharabi.
On June 8 2024, Noa Argamani and three other hostages are rescued in a joint operation by the Israel Defense Forces and other security forces. They had been held in captivity for 245 days. During the operation, Arnon Zamora, a police counter-terror officer, is killed.
December 4 2024, The IDF reveals that in a joint ISA-IDF operation, Itai’s body was recovered and brought home. At this point, we cannot release additional information to protect ongoing security operations.
The Numbers That Keep Us Awake
The mathematics of this mission are brutal but necessary to understand:
100 hostages still remain in Hamas captivity
Dozens are confirmed to still be alive but require urgent medical attention
Multiple hostages over 80 years old
None have access to basic medical care or humanitarian treatment
🔄 These numbers change with every operation. Hit subscribe to stay updated on our progress.
The Intelligence Picture: Publishing the IDF Internal Investigation
In August 2024, IDF forces operating in Gaza discovered the bodies of six hostages - Yagev Buchshtab, Alexander Dancyg, Avraham Munder, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell, and Haim Perry - in a tunnel in Gaza.
As an organization which seeks to learn from its operations, it was critical that we understand the circumstances that led to their death…and then share them, transparently. So yesterday we released the results of the investigation.
Following their abduction on October 7, the six hostages were held in Gaza.
When the IDF entered the Khan Yunis area in December, we believe the six hostages were transferred to another tunnel approximately 4 kilometers away.
They were moved to a tunnel designed as a passageway, not intended for prolonged stay and held in inhumane conditions:
The tunnel itself was 100 meters long
One side of the tunnel is blocked by sandbags. The other is sealed by an iron door.
The dimensions were so confined that standing or lying down was nearly impossible
Of course, the tunnel had no provisions for human habitation and, of course, no medical facilities, despite holding captives needing care. Four of them were over the age of 70.
As part of our ongoing operations, on February 14 we conducted a strike on an underground compound in the Qatari neighborhood of Khan Yunis. The IDF had no prior intelligence indicating that the hostages were being held there but, in retrospect, we learned that the tunnel with the hostages was about 100 meters away.
Let’s talk about the findings.
The hostages were discovered alongside a number of dead Hamas terrorists. However, the hostages all had gunshot wounds while the terrorists had none. As the investigation revealed:
Forensic examinations revealed gunfire wounds on the hostages' bodies, while the terrorists bodies bore no signs of gunfire or injuries. The investigation examined the circumstances of the hostages’ deaths and considered several possibilities. The most likely scenario is that, following the strike, the terrorists murdered the hostages and were subsequently killed as a result of secondary effects of the strike. Another possibility is that the hostages were killed by secondary effects along with the terrorists, and subsequently shot by other terrorists who arrived later. A less probable possibility is that the hostages were killed before the strike.
The bottom line is that we don’t know exactly what happened in that tunnel on that day. But as a learning military, we learn to improve. What we learned from this:
Our intelligence is not foolproof - we acknowledge this openly
Each operation provides new insights
We're continuously incorporating operational lessons
Our focus: minimizing risks to hostages in future missions.
In this case, the key lesson learned was to ensure that future strikes are approved through additional channels. Prior to this operation, IDF strikes that were to take place in an area where we already suspected hostages were being held was subject to approval by the Hostages and Missing Persons Unit within the IDF's Manpower Directorate. Following this investigation, the process was expanded to ensure that every single strike received their approval whether or not there were suspicions that hostages were being kept in the area.
Despite these tragic situations - and because of them - we are determined to constantly improve.
Creating Conditions to Bring Them Home
Our mission continues with three clear objectives:
Locate and identify the locations of every hostage
Create secure conditions for recovery operations
Return every hostage - whether alive or for burial
Your Role
Every share of this brief helps spread awareness. Every subscriber becomes part of the information network that keeps pressure on Hamas and keeps support strong for our mission.
Until next time, Lt Col Nadav Shoshani
Thank you again for all that you are doing.
Condolences to the Relatives, The IDF, And The State Of Israel
Love from Canada