Hamas: 'IDF took terrorist's body instead of Israeli soldier's during 2014 Gaza war'
Al Jazeera interview with Hamas commanders also airs never before seen photos of Gilad Schalit in captivity in Gaza.
By YASSER OKBI/ MAARIV HASHAVUAUpdated: AUGUST 28, 2015 11:10Sec.-Lt. Hadar Goldin.(photo credit: Courtesy)
A Hamas commander from the Kassam Brigades has claimed that Israel mistook the body of a terrorist for that of IDF 2nd Lt. Hadar Goldin during a tunnel kidnapping attempt during Operation Protective Edge last August, according to an Al Jazeera report aired Thursday.The same video report also depicts never before seen photographs of Gilad Schalit in Hamas captivity.Nearly four years after Schalit's release from his five-year captivity in Gaza, Hamas released images of the kidnapped IDF soldier sitting next to Hamas commander of southern Gaza, Muhammad Abu Shamala, who was killed in Rafah during last year's war.The investigative report, conducted as part of Al Jazeera's "Black Box" series, allegedly sheds new light on the incidents that occurred last August in which Goldin was taken and Maj. Benaya Sarel and Staff Sergeant Liel Gidoni were killed.Goldin was feared kidnapped but was later declared missing in action after a Hamas attack on IDF soldiers in Rafah that occurred only an hour into the start of a 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire on August 1, 2014 - the day that is known as "Black Friday."In the video report, a masked Kassam Brigades commander says that the IDF accidentally recovered the body of the terrorist who killed Goldin, Walid Tufik Massoud.The terrorist was wearing an IDF uniform, the Hamas commander told the Arab news network.According to the Hamas claims, IDF forces arrived to the scene of the ambush and recovered three bodies there, one that purportedly belonged to Massoud.According to Israeli military sources, terrorists emerged during the attack from a tunnel shaft, and a suicide bomber detonated himself in the vicinity of soldiers. Heavy exchanges of fire ensued, before one of the IDF soldiers was kidnapped. The IDF said the incident occurred at 9:30 a.m. after the temporary cease-fire went into effect at 8 a.m.However, one of the interviewed Hamas members claimed the gunfight occurred at 7:30 a.m. and lasted five minutes, ending before the temporary cease-fire was due to go into effect.
