On Sunday, Israel announced it had recovered the body of Oron Shaul, an Israeli soldier who had been held in Gaza since 2014. The remains of the fallen soldier were retrieved in an undercover operation of the IDF and Shin Bet in Gaza.
According to the IDF, Shaul fell in combat during an intense battle in Shejaiya on July 20, 2014, in the middle of “Operation Protective Edge,” better known as the 2014 Gaza War. The military pointed out that his body was kidnapped by the Hamas organization and that efforts to return it included an enormous intelligence effort, especially in the recent conflict.
The conflict dates back to July 7, 2014, when Israel attacked the Gaza Strip against Hamas as the rocket and mortar attacks were continuously fired on its soil. Following a series of attempts to scale down, Israel mounted “Operation Protective Edge” that only ceased when an unconditional ceasefire took into effect on August 26.
The move coincided with an Israeli ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza, which had been due to start on Sunday morning but was delayed by several hours. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had demanded Hamas give the names of three hostages due to be freed under the truce. Hamas said there had been “technical field reasons” for the delay but eventually came up with the names and the ceasefire went into force at 0915 GMT.
The deal entails the release of three Israeli hostages in exchange for the first group of Palestinian prisoners. All in all, 33 hostages taken by Hamas in its October 7, 2023 attack will be released in return for a 42-day truce, with hundreds of Palestinian prisoners also to be released from Israeli prison.
The first attack by Hamas killed 1,210 people, the majority of whom were civilians. Of the 251 hostages it took, 94 are still in Gaza, 34 of whom the Israeli military have confirmed to be dead. A second phase, scheduled to start on the 16th day of the current phase, may involve the release of the remaining hostages. A third phase may see all the dead returned and the reconstruction of Gaza.
