UPDATE - Bodies of 5 hostages retrieved from Gaza, Israeli army claims

UPDATES WITH ISRAELI ARMY SPOKESMAN'S COMMENTS

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) - The Israeli army claimed Thursday to have retrieved the bodies of five hostages from Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

The military launched a surprise attack in the city on Monday after issuing immediate evacuation orders for residents in its eastern neighborhoods.

At least 129 people have since been killed and over 400 others injured in the area, which was previously designated as a “safe zone” for displaced people by the Israeli army.

A joint statement by the army and the Shin Bet domestic security service said the bodies of the hostages were located in Khan Younis on Wednesday.

According to the statement, the five were killed during a Hamas attack into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and their bodies were taken to Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said in a press conference that “an intelligence team had managed in recent weeks to locate where the bodies of the kidnapped individuals were being kept in the Khan Younis.”

He claimed that the army “found an entrance to an underground tunnel in the humanitarian area. Inside the tunnel entrance, they discovered a tunnel approximately 200 meters long and about 20 meters deep, which contained several rooms where the kidnapped individuals (bodies) were found.”

There are still around 115 Israelis held captive by Hamas in Gaza, according to Israeli media.

There has been no comment from Hamas on the Israeli statement. The Palestinian group earlier said that some 70 hostages had been killed in Israeli attacks on the enclave.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

More than 39,100 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 90,200 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala and Mohammad Sio