IDF releases footage from operation that recovered body of Oron Shaul from Gaza

Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

The IDF releases footage from the operation in which forces recovered the body of Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul, held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip for over a decade.

Shaul was buried today, a day after the army announced that his body was brought back to Israel in a covert military operation involving special forces.

The footage published by the IDF shows a convoy of military vehicles returning to Israel with Shaul’s body.

The IDF said the operation was based on intelligence efforts from the past decade, which were ramped up amid the ongoing war.

Shaul was killed on July 20, 2014, when 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.

Seven soldiers were killed in the incident, including Shaul, whose body was dragged away from the scene by Hamas operatives.

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