Four Israeli hostages taken by Hamas from the Nova music festival have been rescued alive from the central Gaza strip, the Israeli military has said.
Noa Argamani, 25, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40, were all recovered on Saturday as part of a “complex” daytime operation and an intense accompanying air assault that took place in central Gaza’s al-Nuseirat.
They are in good medical condition and have been transferred to the Sheba Tel-HaShomer Medical Centre for further medical examination, the Israeli military said.
An Israeli military spokesperson said the operation took place in the heart of a residential neighbourhood in Nuseirat where Hamas had kept the hostages in two separate apartment blocks.
Gazan paramedics and residents said the assault killed scores of people and left mangled bodies of men, women and children strewn around a marketplace and a mosque.
A nurse in Al-Aqsa hospital told The Independent: “Regarding what occurred here, according to the occupation, they freed four hostages and continued to aggressively and violently bomb Gaza to the point that the number of martyrs scattered in the streets reached 150 without anyone able to reach them until they finished their military operation.
We have received approximately 500-600 injured until now. And after they completed their ground military operation, they then completely bombed the area where the operation occurred, and we are still receiving injuries.”
Nearly 100 Palestinians were killed during continued fighting in Gaza, the health ministry said.
Israel says more than 130 hostages of the 200-plus abducted by Hamas during the October 7 attacks remain in captivity, with about a quarter of those believed dead, while divisions are deepening in the country over how best to bring them home.
Saturday’s rescue comes as international pressure mounts on Israel to limit civilian bloodshed in its war in Gaza, which reached its eighth month on Friday.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken will return to the Middle East next week to seek a breakthrough in the apparently stalled ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 36,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its figures.
Saturday’s operation is the largest recovery of living hostages since the war erupted, bringing the total of rescued captives to seven.
Two men were rescued in February when troops stormed a heavily guarded apartment in a densely packed town, and a woman was rescued in the immediate aftermath of October’s attack.
Israeli troops have so far recovered at least 16 bodies of hostages from Gaza, according to the government.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing growing pressure to end the fighting in Gaza, with many Israelis urging him to embrace a deal announced last month by US president Joe Biden, but far-right allies are threatening to collapse his government if he does.
Ms Argamani has been one of the most widely recognised hostages since she was abducted from the Nova music festival.
The video of her abduction was among the first to surface, with images of her horrified face widely shared as she was held between two men on a motorcycle.
Her mother, Liora, has stage four brain cancer and in April released a video pleading to see her daughter before she dies.
Ms Argamani had a phone call with Mr Netanyahu following her release, in which she reportedly said she was “very excited” to be free and glad to be hearing Hebrew again.
As fighting continues in Gaza, the Gazan health ministry said the bodies of 94 Palestinians, including children, had been taken to the Al-Aqsa Hospital.
The Associated Press said that its reporters had seen bodies being brought in from the Nuseirat and Deir al-Balah areas. There were also reports of about 100 wounded.
The AP quoted a family member at the hospital saying: “My two cousins were killed, and two other cousins were seriously injured. They did not commit any sin. They were sitting at home.”
With reporting from agencies