Four hostages kidnapped by Hamas have been reunited with their families, after being rescued in a raid that Palestinian officials say killed scores of people.
Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrei Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41, were freed on Saturday, eight months since being kidnapped from the Nova music festival on 7 October.
Israeli forces, backed by air strikes, fought intense gun battles with Hamas in the Nuseirat area, in what the Israel Defense Forces called a “high-risk, complex mission”.
Palestinian officials say women and children were among those killed in the military assault.
Two hospitals in Gaza, al-Aqsa hospital and al-Awda hospital, said they had counted 70 bodies between them, while Hamas’s government media office said at least 210 people had been killed in Israeli strikes in and around the al-Nuseirat refugee camp.
Israel estimated there were fewer than 100 casualties, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said.
Images from the area show intense bombardment, and hospitals there said they were overwhelmed with casualties, including children, and that they were unable to treat everyone. Other photos show people mourning the dead.
‘Precise intelligence’
The rare rescue of hostages – a joint operation conducted by the IDF, Israel Security Agency and Israel Police – comes eight months into war with Hamas in Gaza.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said the mission was based on “precise” intelligence and the hostages were freed from two separate buildings in Nuseirat.
Israeli forces came under fire during the operation, he said. One special forces officer was wounded in the Gaza hostage rescue and later died in hospital, Israeli police said.
The IDF said the released hostages were all in good health, and they were later pictured embracing family members at a medical centre near Tel Aviv.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Israeli forces for operating “creatively and bravely”.
“We will not let up until we complete the mission and return home all the hostages – both those alive and dead,” he added.
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said special forces operated “under heavy fire” when rescuing the four hostages.
“This is one of the most heroic and extraordinary operations I have witnessed over the course of 47 years serving in Israel’s defence establishment,” Mr Gallant said.
The US also provided intelligence support to Israel in the raid, according to the BBC’s partner CBS News which cited two American officials.
They added that US forces did not take part in the operation and the temporary pier in Gaza – which has now resumed aid deliveries after being damaged by heavy seas – was not used in the operation.
The group added: “The Israeli government must remember its commitment to bring back all 120 hostages still held by Hamas — the living for rehabilitation, the murdered for burial.”
Source: BBC