The Israeli military rescued four hostages in a special operation in the Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza, that Gazan authorities said killed 210 people and injured more than 400 others.

Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv, were rescued by the Israeli military, intelligence and special forces from two separate locations in Nuseirat, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Saturday.

All four were kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7.

“They are in good medical condition and have been transferred to the ‘Sheba’ Tel-HaShomer Medical Center for further medical examinations,” the IDF added.

An Israeli policeman from a special counter-terrorism unit was killed in Saturday’s rescue operation, according to Israeli police.

News of the rescue came soon after Israel’s military said it was operating in Nuseirat and other areas of central Gaza, where heavy shelling and artillery fire was reported.

At least 210 people have been killed as a result of the rescue operation, the Government Media Office in Gaza said Saturday.

The killed and wounded are arriving at two hospitals in Gaza, Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, the media office added.

CNN is not able to independently verify the media office numbers.

Nidal Abdo, was shopping in Nuseirat on Saturday when he described a “crazy bombardment” hitting.

“There are children torn apart and scattered in the streets, they wiped out Nuseirat, it is hell on earth,” he said.

Another local, Abu Abdallah, said the strike hit while people were sleeping, adding: “Dogs were eating people’s remains. We pulled out six martyrs, all torn up children and women, we risked our lives to get them to the hospital.”

Hamas described the operation as a “heinous crime” in a press release Saturday, saying the Israeli military “committed a horrific massacre against innocent civilians.”

Hostage rescues are rare: this is only the third such successful operation. IDF Corporal Ori Megidish was rescued in October last year from the northern Gaza Strip. In another operation on February 12 this year, Fernando Marman and Louis Har were rescued from southern Rafah.

One of the group, 25-year-old Noa Argamani, became one of the symbols of the October 7 attacks, after video emerged of her seen shouting and pleading from the seat of a motorbike as a group of Hamas fighters drive away with her in tow.

In the video, Argamani’s boyfriend, fellow Israeli citizen Avinatan Or, is also led away and kidnapped by Hamas fighters.

Noa’s mother Liora Argamani is a Chinese citizen who has been grappling with late stage brain cancer. In a video released last November, she made a desperate plea to be able to see her daughter one more time.

“I don’t know how long I have left. I wish for the chance to see my Noa at home,” her mother said, calling on US President Joe Biden to push for her daughter’s release.

Argamani’s family had previously received signs that she was still alive. She appeared in a series of Hamas propaganda videos released in January this year.

Video showed Argamani embracing her father after her release. She also held a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who told her “we didn’t give up on you for a moment.”

Of the others freed:

Almog Meir Jan, 22, is from the small city of Or Yehuda, outside Tel Aviv. He was due to start a new job at a technology company on October 8.

Shlomi Ziv, 41, was working as a security guard at the Nova festival when he was kidnapped on October 7. Ziv had been living in the local moshav or agricultural settlement for 17 years with his wife Miren.

Andrey Kozlov, 27, is a Russian citizen who move to Israel a year ago. He was also working as a security guard at the Nova festival.

Rescuing hostages taken during the Hamas attacks of October 7 remains a major goal of the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.

Following Saturday’s announcement, the total number of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip from October 7 is now 116, of which at least 41 are dead.

          • rdri@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            20
            ·
            edit-2
            5 months ago

            Israeli and they should be properly judged for that.

            But hamas could have prevented all this just by releasing all hostages early. Or by not taking them in the first place. Or by not executing a totally useless massacre at October 7.

            Hamas also should be judged for all that but there is no system around for that to happen.

                  • rdri@lemmy.world
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    arrow-down
                    6
                    ·
                    5 months ago

                    That’s easy. What would happen is that many more people all over the world would call Israel to stop killing civilians. I can’t understand why it’s not obvious to someone who is in terms with basic logic.

                    And can you prove that the outcome is going to be better if they keep the hostages until the very end? There will be more news about how Israel released hostages? Or hamas members are going to live much longer? Or maybe something else that will certainly help Palestinians?

            • Tangentism@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              7
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              5 months ago

              Zionists could have stopped any of this from happening by staying the fuck out of Palestine 77 years ago

              • rdri@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                arrow-down
                8
                ·
                edit-2
                5 months ago

                Israel can achieve what they want (not that I justify them). Hamas on the other hand, can’t, and should’ve done a better job to make sure their missile strikes and/or October 7 attack would not be useless for their goals. Or if you assume those were not useless for their goals, I’d conclude you agree their (hamas’) goals included killing as many Palestines as possible.

    • kaffiene@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      42
      ·
      5 months ago

      The EU have identified the operation as a massacre and have condemned it, but they’re probably all Hamas as well

    • filister@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      14
      ·
      5 months ago

      Do you perhaps forget that the Israeli government is also mostly far right? Do you have sympathy for it? Because if you want to be impartial you should dislike them equally

      • nimnim@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        14
        ·
        5 months ago

        Yes, that’s true. I don’t like BB, his far-right party, or his politics in limiting Israelis’ freedom of speech and supporting the expansion of illegal Jewish settlements. Similarly, I despise Trump, evangelicals, and gun lobbyists in the US. However, that does not make me bosom buddies with Islamic terrorists or the pro-Islam and pro-Russia idiots on the left.

    • Ozmanthius@lemmygrad.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      edit-2
      5 months ago

      Genocidal apologists should’ve been swallowed.

      Palestinian Officials in Gaza = Hamas = Terrorists

      Lmao, so every palestinian official is Hamas now ? Ignoring everything else wrong, where did you get that from ?

      Gone are the days when groups like Al-Qaeda, ISIS, the Proud Boys, neo-Nazis, and other Islamist or far-right groups were considered pure evil

      I don’t understand, how does this even correlate here.

      Where the new norm is to trust Hamas’s propaganda

      Ha ? Hamas isn’t the only source that’s reporting the 240.

      Fucking scumbag cracker.