Israeli forces advanced deeper into some towns on the eastern side of Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Thursday, hours after Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu told US lawmakers he was actively engaged in bringing hostages home.
Fighting in recent days has centred around the eastern towns of Bani Suaila, Al-Zanna, and Al-Karara, where the army said on Wednesday it had found the bodies of five Israelis.
The Israeli military said it had recovered on Wednesday the bodies of five hostages that Israel says were killed in the October 7th Hamas attack and held in Gaza since.
Maya Goren, (56), a kindergarten teacher, was killed during the attack on her kibbutz, Nir Oz, according to Israeli Army Radio. It was one of the communities worst hit in the deadly attack in southern Israel that triggered the devastating war.
The other four hostages were two reserve soldiers and two conscript soldiers killed in combat during the October 7th attack, the military said.
Their bodies were retrieved from the area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, where Israeli forces carried out new raids this week.
The five had been listed among 120 hostages still in Gaza, about a third of whom Israel has declared dead in absentia, based on forensic findings, intelligence, interrogations of captured militants, videos and testimony of released hostages.
Israeli bombardment intensified in several areas in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, as tanks operated north, west and in the town centre, residents and medics said. Several Palestinians were also wounded in Israeli fire earlier on Thursday.
The Israeli military said forces operating in Khan Younis killed dozens of militants and dismantled around 50 military infrastructures, while it continued activities in Rafah, killing two militants.
In a speech to the US Congress on Wednesday, Mr Netanyahu said his government was actively engaged in intensive efforts to release the remaining hostages which he was confident would succeed.
An Israeli delegation would participate in talks to secure a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release – mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar – next week, an Israeli official said on Wednesday.
Hamas wants a ceasefire agreement to end the war in Gaza, but Mr Netanyahu says the war cannot end before Hamas is defeated.
Negotiations on a ceasefire-for-hostages deal in the Gaza conflict appear to be in their closing stages and US president Joe Biden and Mr Netanyahu will discuss remaining gaps on Thursday, a senior US official said on Wednesday.
The official, briefing reporters ahead of their talks, said the remaining obstacles are bridgeable and there will be more meetings aimed at reaching a deal between Israel and Hamas over the next week. – Reuters