WATCH: IDF zeroes in on Hamas tunnel in Gaza, recover bodies of five hostages

The Israel Defence Forces on Sunday released a video saying that they have recovered the bodies of five hostages who were killed while in Hamas captivity.

In a centralized intelligence effort, IDF troops located and recovered the bodies of 5 hostages—abducted during the October 7 Massacre—and brought them back to Israel:

🕯️WO Ziv Dado
🕯️SGT Ron Sherman
🕯️CPL Nik Beizer
🕯️Eden Zacharia
🕯️Elia Toledano

May their memory be a… pic.twitter.com/tq1UlLo8Z2

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 24, 2023

The video shows a part of the Hamas tunnel network in Gaza City from where three bodies were recovered on Sunday, following the retrieval of two others from a different area two weeks ago. The IDF identified the dead as WO Ziv Dado, SGT Ron Sherman, CPL Nik Beizer, Eden Zacharia and Elia Toledano. “In a centralized intelligence effort, IDF troops located and recovered the bodies of 5 hostages abducted during the October 7 massacre and brought them back to Israel,” the IDF posted on X along with the video. Earlier this month, the bodies of two individuals, Ziv Dado, a 36-year-old Israeli soldier, and Eden Zakaria, a 27-year-old participant in a music festival in southern Israel targeted by Hamas, were recovered after being taken hostage on 7 October. The remaining three bodies, identified as Sgt Ron Sherman, Cpl Nik Beizer, and Elia Toledano, were found on Christmas eve. In the video, the Israeli troops can be seen paying their respects to the fallen hostages. “The three fallen soldiers that we have recovered from here today, and it is of utmost importance to bring our people to a proper burial in the Land of Israel,” a soldier is heard saying in the video. On October 7, Gaza-based Hamas initiated a surprise attack against Israel. According to an AFP tally relying on official Israeli data, the assault resulted in approximately 1,140 casualties, with the majority being civilians. Hamas and other Palestinian militants took around 250 hostages during the attack. As of now, 105 hostages have been released, and several others have unfortunately perished, including casualties from incidents of friendly fire. In response, Israel launched an intensive air and ground offensive, aiming to dismantle the militant group. According to the health ministry in the Hamas-administered territory, the conflict has claimed the lives of at least 20,424 people, with a disproportionately high number being women and children. With inputs from agencies