Following the kidnapping of over 250 Israelis during the October 7 massacre, Israel's security establishment carried out numerous operations in an attempt to gather reliable information about the hostages and secure their release.
One of the hostages who was released from captivity described to Mako how, on one of the days he was inside the tunnel, his captor went to relieve himself. The moment the terrorist left the area, a camera descended from the tunnel's ceiling and began filming the hostage.
When the terrorist returned, the camera retracted, so he did not notice it. During the war, the hostage did not discuss this with the terrorists holding him, and only after arriving in Israel was he informed that it was an IDF operation.
Mako added that over the course of the war, there was more than one instance in which the security establishment succeeded in filming hostages held in tunnels.
Earlier this week, Mako reported that the IDF used a special and classified capability, which cannot be detailed, but with its help, the forces succeeded in leading the terrorists to exit a Gaza tunnel, as part of the effort to return the hostages.
Senior officials in the security establishment closely monitored the operation and watched everything from Israel. Once they realized the operation had failed, there was immense disappointment.
The initial plan was to rescue the hostages and transfer them to a secret location in Israel for a few days, in an attempt to carry out a similar operation later. Once the operation failed, the method was abandoned and was not used again.