The Israeli Defences Forces (IDF) has announced the rescue of four additional Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas during the group’s October 7 attacks.
They were rescued in a joint security operation, conducted with Israel Security Agency and Israel Police, in two separate locations in Nuseirat, Central Gaza, the IDF said. It added that they are in good medical condition and have been transferred to a hospital for further medical assessments.
Those rescued are Noa Argamani, 25, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrei Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry revealed that dozens of people, including children, were killed and injured in the daytime operation.
“Dozens of injured people are lying on the ground and medical teams are trying to save them with the simple medical capabilities they have,” the ministry said in a post on Facebook
The rescue comes eight months into the war with Hamas in Gaza after Israel launched a reprisal assault in the wake of a Hamas attack on a music festival in southern Israel that killed over a thousand people. The group took about 250 hostages, with over a hundred said to still be in Gaza.
A deal in November saw Hamas release 105 Israeli hostages in return for a week-long ceasefire and about 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
In response to the military operation in Nuseirat, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh insists Hamas would not agree to a ceasefire deal unless the security of Palestinians was guaranteed.