Four Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas from the Nova music festival during the October 7 attacks have been rescued in a daylight raid deep in central Gaza.
Noa Argamani, 25, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrei Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40, were rescued from two separate buildings in the Nuseirat area during a “risky, complex mission,” the Israeli army said.
The IDF said the four are in good medical condition and have been transferred to the ‘Sheba’ Tel-HaShomer Medical Center for further medical examination – where they are pictured hugging relatives waiting at the facility.
Dozens of people, including children, have been killed and injured in the area where the operation took place. Images and footage show a significant number of victims.
Staff at Al-Aqsa Hospital are said to be having difficulty treating the victims.
“Dozens of injured people are lying on the ground and medical teams are trying to save them with the simple medical options they have,” the ministry said on Facebook.
‘Precise intelligence’
The rare hostage rescue – a joint operation carried out by the IDF, the Israeli Security Service and the Israeli Police – comes eight months into the war with Hamas in Gaza.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said the mission was based on “precise” intelligence and that Israeli forces came under fire during the operation.
During a televised news conference, Hagari said an Israeli soldier had been seriously injured.
Ms Argamani, a Chinese-born Israeli citizen, was kidnapped from the Nova festival and harrowing video footage from October 7 showed the 25-year-old being taken away on the back of a motorbike while shouting: “Don’t kill me!”
A new video of her reuniting with her father, smiling and hugging him aboard a vehicle, was broadcast shortly after news of the rescue operation on Saturday.
Mr Kozlov, a Russian who moved to Israel in 2022, was working as a security guard at the festival when he was kidnapped.
Mr. Jan tried to flee the festival. He and a friend reached the friend’s car, but only managed to drive a short distance before having to stop.
Mr. Ziv was part of the security force at the festival and was initially in contact with his sisters when the attack unfolded, according to an interview with The Times of Israel.
The headquarters of the Hostages Families Forum, a group representing the families of the hostages, described the rescue of the four hostages as “a miraculous triumph” and thanked the IDF for the “heroic operation.”
The group added: “The Israeli government must remember its promise to return all 120 hostages still held by Hamas – the living for rehabilitation, the murdered for burial.”
Responding to the military offensive in Nuseirat, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh said Israel cannot force its choices on the group.
He said the group would not agree on a ceasefire unless security for the Palestinians was achieved.
During the October 7 attacks in southern Israel, Hamas killed about 1,200 people and captured about 251.
About 116 people remain in Palestinian territory, including 41 who the army says are dead.
Under a deal agreed in November, Hamas released 105 hostages in exchange for a weeklong ceasefire, and some 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons were released.
On Saturday, the Hamas-led Health Ministry said the death toll in Gaza now stands at 36,801 people.
