In a recent clandestine operation in the Gaza Strip, Israeli troops recovered the body of soldier Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul, who was killed and captured by Hamas in 2014, the Israel Defense Forces announced on Sunday morning.
The operation to recover the body was carried out jointly by the IDF and the Shin Bet security agency, with several special forces units including the Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit and another elite force in the Military Intelligence Directorate.
The operation was carried out in the northern Gaza Strip over the past day and was completed overnight between Saturday and Sunday.
The IDF said the operation was based on intelligence efforts from the past decade, which were ramped up amid the ongoing war.
Shaul’s body was brought back to Israel and taken to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, where it was identified. His family was then informed.
On July 20, 2014, amid the 2014 Gaza war — known in Israel as Operation Protective Edge — troops of the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion entered Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood in an M-113 armored personnel carrier. The APC got stuck in one of the neighborhood’s narrow streets, and during attempts to extract it, it came under attack by Hamas operatives launching anti-tank missiles.
Zehava Shaul (center), mother of Oron Shaul, with supporters and family members protest outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence on August 9, 2019. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
Seven soldiers were killed in the incident, including Shaul, whose body was dragged away from the scene by Hamas operatives.
In another incident later in the 2014 war, Hamas captured the body of Lt. Hadar Goldin. His body remains held in the Strip. The IDF said Sunday it was making every effort to recover Goldin’s body as well.
The announcement of the recovery of Shaul’s body came shortly before a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was supposed to take effect, bringing a halt to the 15-month-long war between Israel and the Palestinian terror group Hamas, which began when Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 hostages on October 7, 2023.
“I embrace the dear Shaul family, and congratulate the Shin Bet and IDF forces for their resourcefulness and courage,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement following the announcement.
The prime minister said photos of Shaul and fellow fallen IDF soldier Goldin “have been on display in my office for many years as a daily reminder of my responsibility to bring them home.”
Israelis attend a rally calling for the return of the remains of late Israeli soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin from Hamas captives, outside the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, on July 8, 2021. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
Netanyahu said that Israel has now “completed the mission to bring back Oron, and we will not rest or be silent until we bring home Hadar Goldin. We’ll continue to work to bring all of the hostages home — both the living and the fallen.”
Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that it was “a difficult moment, but also [a moment of] coming full circle for the Shaul family, who never stopped working to bring their son home.”
“I embrace the Shaul family at this painful time and salute the soldiers and commanders of the security forces who worked for years with dedication to return Oron for burial in Israel,” he said, adding that Israel is committed to returning Goldin and all the other hostages home.
Damaged buildings in northern Gaza’s Shejaiya, December 15, 2023. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)
Ninety-four of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the body of Goldin.
Under the expected ceasefire agreement, Hamas will release 33 “humanitarian” hostages — a category made up of women, children, elderly individuals, and the infirm. It includes civilians Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who have been held in Gaza for a decade.
Amy Spiro contributed to this report.
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