Israel knows 'nothing' about tunnels in Gaza, says released captive

Adina Moshe was taken captive by Hamas on 7 October and held in the tunnels under Gaza before her release on 24 November

News Desk - The Cradle 

Freed captive Adina Moshe speaks of her time in captivity, in an interview aired January 24, 2024 (Photo credit: Channel 12 screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Adina Moshe, an Israeli woman formerly held captive by Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza, stated that the Israeli military knows nothing about Hamas' underground tunnel network, Channel 12 reported on 8 September.

Moshe was taken captive by Hamas on 7 October and released on 24 November as part of a temporary ceasefire deal brokered by Qatar and the US between Hamas and Israel.

Moshe said that after her release, she was debriefed by the Shin Bet ('Shabak'), Israel's internal security service.

"The internal security service asked me to draw a map of the tunnels in Gaza because they know nothing about them," Israel's Channel 12 quoted her as saying.

During a speech she gave during the protests demanding a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal with Hamas, Moshe indicated that the Shin Bet had sent her an engineer on its behalf who asked her to explain what Hamas' tunnels, telephones, and wires looked like, what their branches were and where they were located.

This made it clear to Moshe that "the Israeli security services do not know anything about the tunnels," she said.

Moshe told the engineer that "the tunnels in the Gaza Strip are a huge, huge maze that extends underground throughout the Strip, and military pressure will not help bring back the prisoners."

She emphasized that "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is lying, and that he and the army do not know anything about Hamas' tunnels in the Gaza Strip."

On 7 February, after several Israeli captives of Hamas had been killed by Israeli troops and poison gas from Israeli airstrikes during operations in Gaza, the former captive pushed Netanyahu to agree to another ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal.

"Again, I am asking you, Mr. Netanyahu, everything is in your hands, you're the one who can do it, and I'm extremely scared that if you continue along this path…there won't be any more hostages to release," she stated during a press conference.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has sought to sabotage any possible ceasefire deal, leading some Israelis to blame him for the deaths of many of the captives held in Gaza.

Yedioth Ahronoth reported on 2 September that the prime minister is responsible for the deaths of six Israeli soldiers who were killed while captives of Hamas because he sabotaged a Gaza ceasefire agreement in July that would have led to their release.

The Hebrew newspaper reported that according to a senior Israeli security official, Israel submitted a proposal for an agreement in May that would have returned the Israeli captives and led to a ceasefire.

However, after Hamas agreed to most of its terms, the Prime Minister decided to back out of the deal. To do so, he ordered a new document to be drafted in July, which included "clarifications" to the first Israeli proposal, including that Israeli troops continue to occupy the Egypt-Gaza border.

Six additional Israeli captives were later killed. Their bodies were recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza's Rafah on 31 August.