[IsraelTimes] A secretive Hamas unit formed in 2006 after the abduction of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit was largely responsible for guarding the hostages abducted during the October 7, 2023, terror assault on southern Israel, the Saudi Asharq Al-Awsat news outlet reports.
The so-called Shadow Unit was established in the months following Shalit’s abduction, the report states, as the Palestinian terror group required trained operatives to move him from place to place without detection as they evaded Israeli attempts to locate him.
According to the report, the unit’s operatives have been spotted at the site of hostage handovers in recent weeks, amid the ongoing hostage-ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, indicating that it has played a large part in moving the hostages from location to location, from apartments to underground tunnels, throughout the more than 15 months of war in order to evade Israeli forces operating inside the Strip.
Many of the freed hostages have recounted being moved from place to place at various points during the war.
Hamas largely keeps the Shadow Unit out of the public eye, and its existence remained a secret until 2016, when the terror group published footage of Shalit’s time in captivity to mark five years since he was released back to Israel in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners.
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