Israel Retrieves Bodies of 5 Hostages From Tunnel in Gaza

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******* Retrieves Bodies of 5 Hostages From Tunnel in Gaza

******** 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-***** 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 ******* 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.

******* has said that ****** — which led the ******* on ******* on Oct. 7 that prompted the war in Gaza — has exploited the designated humanitarian zone to launch rockets at *******, as well as to use it for other military purposes. Aid groups have lamented that ******* has struck the area despite telling Gazans they would be safer there. ****** 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 ***** by ******** officials.

Mr. Brodski and Mr. Ahimas were soldiers who were ******* during the ******-led ******* in October, while the other three were civilians whose bodies were taken to Gaza as bargaining chips, ******** officials said.

Ms. Goren was a teacher from Nir Oz, one of the hardest-hit communities near the Gaza border; her husband was also ******* 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 ******** military said that intelligence — including information from detained ************ militants — had guided forces to the tunnel containing their bodies.

The ******-led ******* on Oct. 7 ******* 1,200 people, and more than 250 others were abducted, according to *******, which said 105 of those were released during a brief cease-***** in November. ******** officials say 115 hostages remain in Gaza, including about 40 who are presumed *****.

The return home of the hostages’ ******** 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 *******’s military operations in Gaza.

“The war in Gaza could end tomorrow if ****** surrenders, disarms and returns all the hostages,” Mr. Netanyahu said during his address to Congress on Wednesday. “But if they don’t, ******* will ****** until we ******** ******’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 ******* Nations Security Council. Under that deal, ******* would ultimately agree to a permanent cease-***** with ****** 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-***** 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 ******** control of Gaza, effectively ruling out a cease-***** with ******.

“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 ******** 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 ******** 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 ******* has been carrying out a new operation in Khan Younis this week, using tanks and fighter jets to strike what it has described as ****** infrastructure in the southern Gaza city.

Mahmoud Basal, a spokesman for the ************ Civil Defense, said ******** forces ******* at least 17 people on Thursday in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, and in Khan Younis. ******** snipers shot and ******* at least one person while he was moving down Salah al-Din Street, Gaza’s main north-south route, he said.

The ******** military did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the episode. But Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the ******** military spokesman, told reporters that the renewed offensive was aimed partly to “enable the operation” to retrieve the hostages’ bodies. ******** forces had ******* “many terrorists,” he said.

Many Gazans have also fled their homes as the ******** 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 ********, wounding and maiming of people continues relentlessly in southern Gaza,” the

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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 *****, 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 ************ Red Crescent said ******** forces directly hit an ambulance Thursday morning when medics were evacuating injured Palestinians in Khan Younis. The ******** 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 ******** military said its airstrikes and ground offensive were targeting the areas where ****** forces were operating.

Reporting was contributed by Rawan Sheikh Ahmad, Peter Baker, Anushka Patil and Thomas Fuller.

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