Israel Retrieves Bodies of 5 Hostages From Tunnel in Gaza
Israeli forces retrieved the bodies of five hostages from a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip, the military said on Thursday, amid growing international and domestic pressure for a cease-fire deal that would lead to the release of the remaining captives.
The bodies were found on Wednesday in a zone around the city of Khan Younis that Israel previously designated as a humanitarian area where Gazan civilians could go to avoid the fighting and to receive aid, the military said. The tunnel shaft was nearly 220 yards long and more than 20 yards underground, with several rooms, the military said.
Israel has said that Hamas — which led the attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that prompted the war in Gaza — has exploited the designated humanitarian zone to launch rockets at Israel, as well as to use it for other military purposes. Aid groups have lamented that Israel has struck the area despite telling Gazans they would be safer there. Hamas had no immediate response.
The five hostages — Maya Goren, 56; Ravid Katz, 51; Oren Goldin, 33; Tomer Ahimas, 20; and Kiril Brodski, 19 — had already been presumed dead by Israeli officials.
Mr. Brodski and Mr. Ahimas were soldiers who were killed during the Hamas-led attack in October, while the other three were civilians whose bodies were taken to Gaza as bargaining chips, Israeli officials said.
Ms. Goren was a teacher from Nir Oz, one of the hardest-hit communities near the Gaza border; her husband was also killed on Oct. 7.
Mr. Katz, also from Nir Oz, was a father of three children.
The body of Mr. Goldin, a member of the civil response squad in a nearby village, was taken, along with that of his brother-in-law Tal Haimi, whose body is believed to still be in Gaza.
The Israeli military said that intelligence — including information from detained Palestinian militants — had guided forces to the tunnel containing their bodies.
The Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7 killed 1,200 people, and more than 250 others were abducted, according to Israel, which said 105 of those were released during a brief cease-fire in November. Israeli officials say 115 hostages remain in Gaza, including about 40 who are presumed dead.
The return home of the hostages’ remains in body bags added to the domestic political pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war, even as he was visiting Washington and in a speech to Congress gave a full-throated defense of Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
“The war in Gaza could end tomorrow if Hamas surrenders, disarms and returns all the hostages,” Mr. Netanyahu said during his address to Congress on Wednesday. “But if they don’t, Israel will fight until we destroy Hamas’s military capabilities and its rule in Gaza and bring all our hostages home.”
Mr. Netanyahu did not refer to the current proposal backed by the Biden administration and the United Nations Security Council. Under that deal, Israel would ultimately agree to a permanent cease-fire with Hamas and withdraw its forces from Gaza in exchange for the release of all hostages.
John F. Kirby, a White House spokesman, said President Biden planned to press Mr. Netanyahu to make the final concessions needed to seal a cease-fire during their meeting at the White House on Thursday. He said the negotiators “are closer now, we believe, than we’ve been before” but there were still gaps.
Nissim Kalderon, whose brother Ofer was abducted on Oct. 7, accused Mr. Netanyahu of hesitating to reach a deal for political reasons. Mr. Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition government depends on hard-line parties who support permanent Israeli control of Gaza, effectively ruling out a cease-fire with Hamas.
“I expected, hoped, wished that you would open your speech with ‘We have a signed deal,’” Mr. Kalderon said at a rally in Tel Aviv on Wednesday night. “But again and again, you’re not doing what you should have done 292 days ago: Bring your citizens home.”
At least six Israeli relatives of hostages were arrested in the House gallery in Washington by Capitol Police during Mr. Netanyahu’s speech. The protesters wore yellow T-shirts calling on him to reach an agreement to free their loved ones.
“Benjamin Netanyahu spoke for 54 minutes, and he did not mention once the need to seal the deal,” said Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat was abducted from the Israeli border community of Be’eri. “That’s what he needs to do: Sign the deal and release all the hostages now.”
The retrieval of the hostages’ bodies comes as Israel has been carrying out a new operation in Khan Younis this week, using tanks and fighter jets to strike what it has described as Hamas infrastructure in the southern Gaza city.
Mahmoud Basal, a spokesman for the Palestinian Civil Defense, said Israeli forces killed at least 17 people on Thursday in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, and in Khan Younis. Israeli snipers shot and killed at least one person while he was moving down Salah al-Din Street, Gaza’s main north-south route, he said.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the episode. But Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman, told reporters that the renewed offensive was aimed partly to “enable the operation” to retrieve the hostages’ bodies. Israeli forces had killed “many terrorists,” he said.
Many Gazans have also fled their homes as the Israeli bombardment has intensified, while others have elected to stay, hoping they would be safer in their houses than in tents.
Victims were taken to the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, where photos taken by a photographer for Agence France-Presse showed bloodied children being rushed in for care.
The center reached its capacity for new patients this week, according to the medical charity Doctors Without Borders. Patients had to share beds, and the hospital was “under enormous strain as the killing, wounding and maiming of people continues relentlessly in southern Gaza,” the aid group wrote on social media.
Dr. Mohammad Saqer, the director of nursing at Nasser Hospital, said he had treated three children for severe blast wounds, which he said were most likely from the bombardment. Dr. Saqer said few shipments of medicine and fuel were arriving at the hospital, making treatment difficult.
“So many dead, so many wounded, not enough beds — the situation’s disastrous,” Dr. Saqer said. “We’re rationing electricity, turning off air-conditioning, trying to save what we can.”
The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli forces directly hit an ambulance Thursday morning when medics were evacuating injured Palestinians in Khan Younis. The Israeli forces had been targeting the zone in Khan Younis for the fourth consecutive day, leaving “no space for even a single tent due to the overwhelming number of people desperate for safety,” the group said in a social media post.
The Israeli military said its airstrikes and ground offensive were targeting the areas where Hamas forces were operating.
Reporting was contributed by Rawan Sheikh Ahmad, Peter Baker, Anushka Patil and Thomas Fuller.
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