Four Israeli hostages taken by Hamas from the Nova music festival have been rescued alive from the central Gaza strip, the Israeli military said.
Noa Argamani, 25, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andri Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40, were all recovered on Saturday as part of a “complex” daytime operation.
They are in good medical condition and have been transferred to the ‘Sheba’ Tel-HaShomer Medical Center for further medical examinations, the Israeli military said.
Israel says more than 130 hostages remain, with about a quarter of those believed dead, and divisions are deepening in the country over how to bring them home.
The rescue comes as international pressure mounts on Israel to limit civilian bloodshed in its war in Gaza, which reached its eighth month on Friday.
Seeking a breakthrough in the apparently stalled ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, US secretary of state Antony Blinken will return to the Middle East next week.
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 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 a 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.