The Israeli army took reporters on Friday to tunnels uncovered by troops in southern Gaza, including the entrance to the underground chamber where the bodies of six Israeli hostages killed by Hamas were recovered on September 1.

The military did not allow reporters into the tunnel, in the Tel al-Sultan area of Rafah for security reasons. But it has released footage showing a cramped and airless passage it said was some 20 metres below ground where it said the hostages had been held possibly for weeks.

“There is a complete maze of tunnels here in Tel al-Sultan,” Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari told reporters, standing next to the shaft leading down to the tunnel, located in what appears to have been a child’s room in a destroyed house.

“We need to do everything we can, by all means, to bring them back home,” he said, referring to the 101 hostages who Israel says are still being held by Hamas militants.

The Israeli military has said the six hostages were killed on the night of August 29 and their bodies were recovered by troops around two days later.

The Tel al-Sultan tunnel is part of what the military has said is a large network uncovered by Israeli forces operating around Rafah, near the border with Egypt.

Troops have uncovered around 13 km of underground tunnel routes over the past few months, the army said this week.