Largest rescue operation
Israeli army frees four Hamas hostages from Gaza Strip
08.06.2024, 12:42
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Israel reports the release of four of the hostages kidnapped in the terrorist attack by the militant Islamist Hamas on October 7. The young woman and three men are said to be in good health. They have been taken to a hospital, it is said.
According to the army, Israeli security forces have rescued four hostages in the Gaza Strip. The people kidnapped from Israel were freed in two operations in the refugee district of Nuseirat. They are a 25-year-old woman and three men aged 21, 27 and 40. They are in good health and have been taken to a hospital in Israel, it was said. They were freed from two different locations in the center of Nuseirat.
The army had previously announced that it would attack terrorist infrastructure in the area. This is the largest hostage rescue operation of its kind since the outbreak of the Gaza war. Hundreds of soldiers were involved in the special operation to free the hostages.
The four Israelis were kidnapped in a major attack by the radical Islamic Hamas on October 7 while they were attending a music festival in southern Israel. According to the army, the freed hostages are 25-year-old Noa Argamani, 21-year-old Almog Meir Jan, 27-year-old Andrey Kozlov and 40-year-old Schlomi Ziv.
“They are alive. They are doing well,” military spokesman Daniel Hagari told journalists. They are now being reunited with their families in the hospital. Media have already reported the happy reunion of a 25-year-old woman with her relatives.
In the attack on October 7, terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups kidnapped more than 250 people as hostages in the Gaza Strip. The unprecedented massacre, which left more than 1,000 dead, sparked the Gaza War. It is feared that a large proportion of the approximately 120 hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip are no longer alive.
The fate of the now freed Noa Argamani, who was kidnapped by terrorists on a motorcycle and cried desperately for help, moved Israel. Her mother is suffering from terminal cancer. The woman had repeatedly asked to be allowed to see her daughter one more time before she died. “We are overjoyed to have you home,” said Israel’s Defense Minister Joav Galant, according to his office. He spoke of a “heroic operation.”
After the release of four hostages kidnapped from Israel, Palestinians reported dozens of deaths in army attacks on the Nuseirat refugee camp and the city of Deir al-Balah in the center of the Gaza Strip. 50 people were killed and dozens more injured, according to medical sources in the Gaza Strip. It is still unclear whether the people died during the army’s operations to rescue the hostages.