Images of Israeli hostages are plastered on a wall during a rally outside the Ministry of Defence in Tel Aviv. File/AFP

Israeli forces retrieved the bodies of five people taken hostage in the Gaza Strip during Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel, the military said Thursday.

The army said the bodies of hostage Maya Goren as well as soldiers Ravid Aryeh Katz, Oren Goldin, Tomer Ahimas and Kiril Brodski had been returned to Israel.

The bodies were recovered on Wednesday during an operation in Khan Yunis, the main city in the south of the Gaza Strip, the military said.

The four soldiers were killed during the October 7 attack launched by Hamas fighters, it added.

In December, the military had announced the death of Goren, who was abducted and taken to Gaza on October 7.

Thursday's announcement comes after two Israeli kibbutzim, Nir Oz and Nir Yitzhak, said in separate statements that the army had recovered the bodies of Goren and Goldin.

"Last night, we were informed that in a military rescue operation, the body of the late Maya Goren was recovered," kibbutz Nir Oz said, adding that her family had been informed and more information would follow.

Later in a separate statement kibbutz Nir Yitzhak said the army had returned the body of Goldin.

"This evening, we were informed about the rescue operation for the late Oren Goldin, a member of the kibbutz emergency team, who fell on October 7" during the attack by Hamas fighters, Nir Yitzhak said.

On October 7 Hamas fighters attacked southern Israeli communities, which resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

The Palestinian group Hamas also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom remain in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,145 people, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Agence France-Presse