Israel Recovers Bodies of Five Hostages in Gaza

The bodies of five Israeli hostages retrieved this week from the Gaza Strip had been held in a tunnel deep underground, Israel's military said.

The retrieval operation was carried out using intelligence gathered and analyzed in recent weeks, said military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari. It took place "in the heart" of the city of Khan Younis, where Israeli forces returned to operate this week, he said.

The hostages' bodies were hidden "in a branched tunnel about 200 meters long and about 20 meters underground", Hagari said.

A video was distributed by the Israeli army said to show soldiers during an operation in Khan Younis, where bodies were recovered.

Israeli forces recovered the bodies of five hostages killed in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack and then taken to Gaza where they were held since. They included a kindergarten teacher taken from her kibbutz in southern Israel and four reserve and conscript soldiers who had tried to repel the Hamas attack.

Palestinians in Gaza’s Khan Younis, dismissed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech addressing the U.S. Congress, with one man calling it “trivial.”

In his speech, Netanyahu sketched a vague outline of a plan for a "deradicalized" post-war Gaza and touted a potential future alliance between Israel and America's Arab allies.

Meanwhile plumes of smoke were seen near the Israel-Lebanon border, after the Israeli army struck sites in Lebanon. Rockets launched from southern Lebanon hit Israeli border areas.

The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel has been fought in parallel to the Gaza war for nine months. Though the hostilities have been largely contained to areas near the border, the conflict has raised fears of a wider war.

Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier over Beirut and other areas of Lebanon, Lebanese security sources and media reported, rattling nerves.