Report: Rescued Hostage warned IDF and Shin Bet about woman speaking Hebrew, but no action was taken

The report follows the recent release of the IDF’s findings into the murders of the hostages, which claimed that while there were general indications that Israeli abductees might be in the area, the military did not have concrete or real-time intelligence on their exact location before the killings occurred.

According to Channel 12, Farhan al-Qadi, who was rescued from Gaza on August 27, informed both the IDF and Shin Bet that he had heard a woman speaking Hebrew in the vicinity of where he was later found. Despite alerting the authorities about this potential lead, the defense establishment reportedly dismissed it as uncredible and did not take further steps to investigate, times of Israel reported.

Just days later, on August 29, hostages Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat, and Almog Sarusi were executed by their captors in a nearby tunnel. Their bodies were discovered by Israeli troops on August 31.

In the aftermath, the IDF’s probe into the killings indicated that while al-Qadi had shared the information, he did not possess further details on the whereabouts of other hostages. However, the failure to follow up on his warning raises serious questions about the missed opportunity to prevent the tragic deaths.