Israel army recovers bodies of 5 killed on October 7 from Gaza

Israeli forces retrieved the remains of five Israelis, killed during Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel, whose bodies had been taken to the Gaza Strip, the military said Thursday.

It said the bodies of Maya Goren as well as soldiers Tomer Ahimas and Kiril Brodski, along with Ravid Aryeh Katz and Oren Goldin -- military reservists -- had been returned to Israel following a rescue operation, reports AFP.

The five had previously been announced dead, and the military and an Israeli campaign group, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, said that they all had been killed by Palestinian militants on the day of the attack.

The military said the soldiers were killed in combat while fighting the militants on October 7.

The attack by Hamas militants on that day resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom remain in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.

The bodies were recovered on Wednesday during an operation in Khan Yunis, the main city in the south of the Gaza Strip, the military said, more than nine months into the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas.

The military did not provide details but said the intelligence gathered prior to the rescue mission included information provided by arrested militants.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum insisted that the Israeli government agree to a ceasefire deal that could help return the remaining captives.

It said the recovery of the five bodies "is a crucial and decisive military action that provides their families with important closure and eternal rest for the murdered".

In a statement on Thursday, the group added, "It is Israel's duty to return all the murdered for honourable burial and all living hostages for rehabilitation."