Underground tunnels and Humanitarian zones: IDF's recovery of Gaza hostage bodies

The IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) announced early Thursday morning that troops had recovered five bodies of hostages on Wednesday from Khan Yunis in southern Gaza and returned them to Israel.

The hostages are Maya Goren, Sgt. Kiril Brodski, Staff-Sergeant Tomer Achimas, Oren Goldin, and Warrant Officer (res.) Ravid Aryeh Katz.

The joint operation in Khan Yunis was conducted based on Shin Bet interrogations of terrorists and other precise intelligence information, the military said.

Recovering the dead hostages’ bodies was a pre-planned secret goal of the recent reinvasion of Khan Yunis, which started on Monday. The IDF first invaded Khan Yunis on December 1 and withdrew on April 7.

The IDF said that its intelligence units had been working with the Shin Bet for weeks on the exact location and preparing for an operation to recover the bodies.

Finally, late Tuesday night, the IDF discovered a tunnel in a humanitarian zone within Khan Yunis, in a general area that Hamas was using to hide behind human shields.

The Yahalom tunnel unit spent 12 hours digging and exploring the tunnel, discovering that it extended for 200 meters, ran 20 meters deep, and contained several rooms, one of which contained the bodies of the dead hostages.

Despite the discovery of the tunnel during the reinvasion, Hamas forces had already fled the area by the time the IDF arrived, so there was no gunfight to take control of the tunnel area.

In a related development, an IDF reservist filmed himself with the bodies of hostages found near Khan Yunis and posted the video on the social media platform TikTok on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the IDF announced that he had been court-martialed and sentenced to 10 days of low-grade IDF detention, following which he would be permanently expelled from reservist duty.

The bodies of rescued in the operation

Maya Goren, 56, from Kibbutz Nir Oz, was kidnapped to the Gaza Strip on October 7. The announcement of her death came in December. The murder of her husband, Avner, also occurred on October 7. The couple left behind four children: Asif, Bar, Gal, and Dekel.

Kibbutz Nir Oz issued a statement, saying, “After over nine months, she was brought back home for burial. She will be buried next to her husband, Avner Goren, who was murdered on October 7.”

Maya, who worked as a kindergarten teacher, was “a diligent and dedicated caregiver and lovingly cared for the children of the kibbutz for many years,” the statement added.

Sgt. Kiril Brodski, 19, from Ramat Gan, was killed while fighting on October 7 near Kibbutz Nirim.

In November, it was announced that Brodski had been killed on October 7 and that his body had been kidnapped to Gaza.

“He was a good and pleasant boy. Kiril studied sports and dreamed of a military career,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.

Although his body was in Gaza, his family held a funeral for him on November 29.

Staff Sergeant Tomer Yaakov Ahimas, 20, from Lehavim, was killed in battle in Nirim on October 7.

In November, it was announced that he had been killed on October 7, and his body had been kidnapped to Gaza.

In Nirim, Ahimas and Brodski fought alongside their now-deceased commander, IDF Col. Assaf Hamami, whose body Hamas still holds. Ahimas received the rank of St.-Sgt. after his death.

Elad Arazi, head of the Lehavim local council, stated on Thursday, “Tomer, our beloved friend, son of Lehavim, fell in a heroic battle in Kibbutz Nirim on October 7.”

His funeral is set to take place at 7 p.m. on Thursday at the Lehavim cemetery.

Oren Goldin, 33, a member of Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak’s emergency standby squad, was killed on October 7.

Three additional members of the kibbutz’s standby squad were kidnapped alongside Goldin.

The kibbutz issued a statement noting Goldin’s bravery on October 7. “Oren was the first to leave that dark morning, even before we knew how serious the danger was outside.”

Goldin was married to Oshrit and was the father of two-year-old twins.

Warrant Officer (res.) Ravid Aryeh Katz, 51, from Nir Oz, was killed on October 7.

In November, it was announced that he had been killed on October 7, and his body had been kidnapped to Gaza.

In a statement, Kibbutz Nir Oz said Katz was “an educator who worked for years with various youth, from youth movements to at-risk youth. He was a lover of people and peace.”

Katz was married to Revital and was the father of three: Shachar, Shira, and Alma.

On Thursday afternoon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, currently in the US for his Congress speech and meetings with top US officials, posted his response to the rescue operation on X, saying that he and his wife, Sarah, “feel the pain of the families.”

He also thanked the IDF and the Shin Bet “for the determined action that succeeded in bringing them” for burial in Israel.

“We are committed to our sacred mission: to return all our loved ones home, both alive and dead,” the X post concluded.