It’s unclear how the information in this article was obtained, but it seems to have been from a combination of: testimony from the hostages who were released or rescued previously, evidence collected by the IDF and analyzed scientifically, and answers that captured Hamas terrorists have given when interrogated. There also might have been electronic eavesdropping and even spies or informants in the Hamas camp or among other Gazans.

At any rate, here’s some of what is claimed to have been the case:

According to the report, the six captives — Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat, and Almog Sarusi — were kept further north in Gaza in the first month of the war …

In November, as part of the weeklong ceasefire-hostage deal with Hamas that saw the release of 105 civilian hostages, Israel agreed not to carry out surveillance in the territory during specified hours, while the truce lasted. During that time, the terror group transported some remaining hostages to new locations, the report said — including to Rafah, where the IDF had not yet entered.

Rafah is the place where Biden and most of the international community pressured Israel not to enter.

More:

Hamas moved the six hostages to a tunnel three stories (20 meters, or 65.6 feet) belowground, the report said. The hostages’ captors reportedly resided in a building aboveground, with a shaft leading down to the captives.

The six Israelis were apparently kept in this tunnel system the entire remainder of their lives, subsiding mostly on energy bars, according to the report.

The hostages were placed in the corridor where they would eventually be killed — which was even harder to reach and had worse conditions than where they’d been held before, in the same system — after Israeli troops rescued four hostages alive in central Gaza’s Nuseirat in June.

On August 21, when the IDF was operating in the area, pursuing intelligence that Sinwar was likely in the vicinity, troops reportedly spotted and attacked a group of some 26 terror operatives, most of whom were killed or wounded.

Those men, Channel 12 reported, included Hamas terrorists who had been guarding the six hostages for some eight months. Other longtime guards of the six fled amid the IDF operations, the report said.

Those captors were reportedly replaced by two relatively junior operatives, who were instructed to kill the captives if the IDF closed in on their location.

That’s exactly what these new guards did.

The following is especially heartbreaking and touching. But the mistreatment and suffering of the hostages at the hands of Hamas is no surprise whatsoever:

The hostages’ bodies testified to a struggle, as has been previously reported. One hostage had shielded Carmel Gat, and another managed to escape several meters before being killed, the report said.

Channel 13 in September cited “forensic” findings showing “Hersh, Ori, Alex and Almog defended Eden and Carmel.”

The hostages’ bodies also evidenced malnourishment and frailty, partly explaining why they were not moved along with the Hamas leader as he sought to outrun Israeli forces — they were too weak.

It was previously reported that Eden Yerushalmi appeared to have been starved, and had lost 10 kilograms in captivity, weighing only 36 kilograms (79 lbs) when she was recovered.

The four men tried to shield the two women.

RIP.

The only possible silver lining in the dark cloud of their deaths is that it may have been the outrage that more fully unleashed the wrath of Israel against the perpetrators, and may lead to a more definitive defeat of Hamas, Hezbollah, and even Iran. One can hope, anyway.