In It’s Noon In Israel newsletter this morning, Amit Segal reports the story below. I’m taking the liberty of quoting it for readers who may find it of interest. I can’t find it on his site. Readers can subscribe to the newsletter at the link. Segal writes:
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New details emerge around the recovery of Oron Shaul’s body in January 2025. This operation is more spy thriller than reality—even with a surprise twist at the end.
The movie opens on Gaza. Operation Protective Edge, 2014: IDF soldier Oron Shaul is killed, his body captured by Hamas—fade to black.
Ten years later.
An Israeli soldier finds a computer during a routine operation. It says there’s someone who knows where Oron is—and he’s already in Israeli custody. The man is interrogated and tells investigators that the body was held by former Hamas commander Ibrahim Hilo. He also says Oron’s body is being kept in a freezer beneath Hilo’s home. IDF forces had already been there, but they didn’t check the freezer.
The IDF have to find Hilo and make sure the intelligence is correct. The problem? Hilo is in Deir al-Balah, the humanitarian zone on the coast of Gaza. They need to lure him out and grab him without anyone noticing.
But this is a heart-pounding thriller—so of course, there’s a ticking clock.
It’s Wednesday, January 15; a U.S.-brokered cease-fire is starting on Sunday morning. They have four days to capture Hilo, confirm the intelligence, and retrieve the body. The operation is ready.
It almost doesn’t work. Hilo is convinced to come to a warehouse. That morning, he says he’s not coming—but is cajoled back into it. On the way, he backs out again, makes a U-turn, and begins returning to the camp.
At the last moment, he agrees again, and the signal is given to the undercover unit to go in—they turn the key, but their truck won’t start. After agonizing minutes, the engine roars to life—and Hilo is captured.
Hilo confirms the body is hidden in the freezer beneath his house. But now, a new problem: how to reach the house without endangering living hostages held nearby, as IDF forces are already withdrawing from parts of Gaza due to the approaching cease-fire.
Meanwhile, on the home front:
It’s Friday morning, and the Shaul family receives a call from then–Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar. He informs them that the negotiating team has failed to recover their son—all the while knowing that a bold operation might soon be launched to retrieve Oron’s body.
Now it’s time for the climax.
With the cease-fire just hours away and Israeli forces already withdrawing, a Palestinian collaborator is sent alone to retrieve the body. The IDF fires artillery into nearby open areas to mask the noise as the agent breaks into the shop. He finds the freezer, pulls the handle—it’s locked.
Under cover of the shelling, the agent breaks open the freezer to reveal the prize. He wraps Shaul’s body in a carpet and, as the sun rises, carries it roughly 1.5 kilometers to a waiting IDF unit.
Oron is brought back to Israel and laid to rest more than 10 years after his death.
The end.
My heart was pounding just writing this. The best part is, it’s all true—from the ticking clock, the broken truck, to the climactic rescue at the hands of Yaʿqūb [i.e., Jacob/James in Arabic] Bond. That’s just how Israel does it.
