Oron Shaul’s body was recovered after kidnapping, mile-long march by Gaza informant — report

When the Israel Defense Forces succeeded last year in retrieving the body of Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul, the soldier who was killed and kidnapped in 2014 by Hamas in Gaza, it involved a complex special forces and intelligence operation whose details were revealed by Ynet on Friday.

The recovery of Shaul’s remains was announced in January 2025, shortly before a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which saw the release of dozens of hostages, took effect.

Earlier this week, the IDF disclosed additional details from the clandestine operation, which it said involved the arrest of a “key figure” who lived at a civilian site in Gaza City, where the remains of the slain soldier were believed to be. Troops of the elite Sayeret Matkal unit nabbed the person in a special operation, and, following an interrogation by the Shin Bet, they provided accurate information on the location of Shaul’s body, the IDF said.

According to the Ynet report, which did not cite any sources, intelligence units of the Shin Bet and IDF discovered a Hamas computer in Gaza in early October 2024 containing correspondence between a Hamas operative and the current head of the terror organization’s military wing, Izz al-Din Haddad, who at the time headed the terror group’s Gaza City Brigade

One of the messages sent by the operative reportedly warned Haddad that a prisoner taken by Israel from Shifa hospital in Gaza had information pertaining to the whereabouts of Shaul’s body, according to Ynet.

Subsequent interrogations of all the prisoners from Shifa led to information about Ibrahim Hilu, a former Hamas commander who later worked as a merchant and allegedly kept Shaul’s body in a refrigerator in one of three shops under his home in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City.

IDF troops had apparently already been inside his home but did not investigate the refrigerator, Ynet reported.

Because the intelligence was not considered sufficiently believable and a direct military raid on the shops risked hurting living hostages possibly nearby, Israeli forces planned a covert operation to kidnap Hilu and interrogate him, the report said.

After intelligence officials learned that Hilu had relocated to a displaced persons camp in Deir al-Balah, security forces contacted him under false pretenses. They convinced him to rent a warehouse near the Salah al-Din route and persuaded him to arrive there at unusual hours on the pretext of receiving incoming shipments, Ynet reported.

At around this time, the ceasefire agreement was announced, and Shaul’s body was not listed among the hostages slated to be released.

On the evening of Hilu’s kidnapping, his operators told him to come to the warehouse at 11:00 p.m., with troops from the elite Sayeret Matkal unit waiting near the site to capture him.

However, Hilu refused to come to the warehouse that night for unclear reasons, and even after being convinced to do so, turned back on his way there. Eventually, he agreed to drive to the site, and after several more moments in which his truck’s engine would not start up, he arrived at the warehouse, where the troops kidnapped him, Ynet reported.

After an extensive interrogation, Hilu admitted that Shaul’s body was in the refrigerator under his home. But the pending ceasefire and possible endangerment of living hostages deterred security officials from sending in special forces to search the refrigerator. Instead, a Palestinian informant was sent into the home to retrieve the body, Ynet reported.

Upon arriving at the refrigerator, the informant discovered that it was locked and would require tools to break into. He then left the site and returned with tools, while the IDF fired artillery at nearby open areas to drown out the noise of his break-in, according to Ynet.

Ynet reported that the informant found Shaul’s body inside the refrigerator, wrapped it with a rug, and carried it on his shoulder for 1.5 kilometers (roughly one mile) toward IDF troops awaiting him, ending the more than 10-year saga.

This footage published by the IDF on January 20, 2025, shows a convoy of military vehicles returning to Israel with the body of Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF said last week that the operation was planned and carried out in a way that did not endanger any of the living hostages who had been held in Gaza City at the time.

Shaul was kidnapped on July 20, 2014, amid the 2014 Gaza war — known in Israel as Operation Protective Edge — 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. His body remained held by terror operatives in Gaza, as did that of Lt. Hadar Goldin, for more than a decade. Goldin’s body was returned in November.

Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.