The Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsat published new details on Saturday about how Hamas held Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Hamas sources told the paper that guarding the hostages was “extremely difficult,” but senior leaders in both the military and political wings ordered terrorists to devote all necessary efforts to securing both living and deceased hostages.

According to a Kan News report citing the same Hamas sources, living hostages were frequently moved from place to place in Gaza whenever conditions allowed—under heavy guard and without the IDF detecting them. They were transferred between tunnels, apartments, and other hiding sites.

The remains of deceased hostages were kept inside graves, Hamas tunnels, in cemeteries, and at sites belonging to allied terror groups.

Many hostages were transferred from northern Gaza to the south. At times, Israeli troops were only meters away, but Hamas guards managed to mislead them or transfer the hostages via alternative routes. Some hostages, the report said, were held in tunnels located directly under IDF posts.

The Hamas sources said that after October 7, the terror group’s military wing held a series of meetings—some direct, others through intermediaries—with other terror groups that had taken hostages, including Islamic Jihad. These talks aimed to coordinate the guarding of hostages, share information on their identities and numbers, and transfer some hostages to Hamas’s and Islamic Jihad’s armed wings. Hamas’s military leadership supervised the holding of hostages by both its own terrorists and other groups.

Following the first ceasefire, direct meetings were held with senior military officials from other terror groups to reorganize and consolidate records of both living and deceased hostages. During this period, additional hostages were handed over to Hamas because it was considered the terror group best equipped to guard them.

During the January 2025 ceasefire, Hamas, its political wing, Islamic Jihad, and other terror groups coordinated closely to ensure that all hostages remained under Hamas’s full control. Islamic Jihad assisted in guarding hostages, as it was viewed as having more advanced military infrastructure and tunnels capable of supporting the effort.

(YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis ha’Shabbos in Israel)