JERUSALEM >> Israeli forces retrieved the bodies of five Israelis held in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said Thursday, amid growing international pressure for a cease-fire deal that would involve the release of the remaining captives.

The bodies were found Wednesday in a tunnel shaft in a Khan Younis zone that Israel had previously designated as a humanitarian area where Gaza civilians could go to avoid the fighting and to receive aid, the Israeli military said. The shaft was nearly 220 yards long and more than 20 yards underground, with several rooms, the military said.

Israel has said Hamas has exploited the “humanitarian zone” to launch rockets at Israel, as well as use it for other military purposes. Aid groups have lamented that Israel has occasionally struck the area, despite telling Gaza residents they would be safer there. There was no immediate response from Hamas.

Israel has been carrying out a new operation in Khan Younis this week, using tanks and fighter jets to strike what it has described as Hamas infrastructure in the southern Gaza city. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesperson, told reporters the renewed offensive aimed in part to “enable the operation” to retrieve the bodies.

Dozens of people have been killed during the Israeli assault on Khan Younis, the Gaza Health Ministry has reported. Many also fled their homes as the Israeli bombardment intensified, while others elected to stay, hoping they would be safer in their houses than in tents. Hagari said Israeli forces had killed “many terrorists.”

The five people whose bodies were recovered — Maya Goren, 56; Tomer Ahimas, 20; Kiril Brodski, 19; Oren Goldin, 33; and Ravid Katz, 51 — were killed during the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7 and were taken back to Gaza to be held as bargaining chips, Israeli officials said. They are considered hostages by the Israeli government.

Brodski and Ahimas were soldiers who fell during the attacks, while the other three were civilians.

Goren was a teacher from Nir Oz, one of the hardest-hit communities near the Gaza border; her husband was also killed on Oct. 7. Katz, also from Nir Oz, was a father of three children. The body of Goldin, a member of a nearby village’s civil response squad, was taken, along with that of his brother-in-law Tal Haimi, whose body is still in Gaza.

The Israeli military said that intelligence — including information from detained Palestinian militants — had guided forces to the tunnel.

More than 250 people were abducted during the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, according to Israel, and 105 were released during a brief cease-fire in November.