Report: Hamas Moved Israeli Hostages from Khan Yunis to Rafah

Hamas has reportedly moved the roughly 134 Israeli hostages it continues to hold from the town of Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza, to the Egyptian border town of Rafah, further south.

The Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) found cages in tunnels underneath Khan Yunis in which hostages had recently been held, but found no hostages there.

The Post noted:

With the IDF completing its operational takeover of Khan Yunis, sources have confirmed that the IDF found no hostages there, though it did find multiple multi-million shekel special tunnels with cages where hostages had been held.

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As early as December, top sources started to argue that Hamas was already moving some hostages from Khan Yunis to Rafah.

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It seems that since December, more, or even all, of the remaining hostages in Khan Yunis were moved to Rafah, hiding among around 1.5 million Palestinian civilians.

The daring hostage rescue carried out by the IDF last week took place in Rafah, freeing two Israeli hostages from a civilian home.

President Joe Biden and other world leaders have warned Israel not to go into Rafah, despite the likely presence of the hostages, and despite the fact that the last four Hamas battalions (out of twenty-four) are thought to be hiding there.

Because Rafah is also a key smuggling corridor, with weapons and people moving through tunnels underneath the Egyptian border, there is thought to be a danger that Hamas could smuggle its leaders, and its Israeli hostages, out of Gaza and to Iran, Turkey, or Qatar.

Of the 134 hostages, some 31 are thought to be dead, either murdered on October 7 or killed in captivity, meaning that Hamas is holding their bodies. At least 100 are thought to be alive. The hostages include roughly twenty women and possibly two children.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.