Israeli forces have freed four hostages from Gaza, in the largest rescue operation since the latest war with Hamas began on 7 October.
They are in good medical condition, Israeli authorities said, and are being checked at Sheba hospital in Tel Aviv, where they will spend the night.
It was also one of the single bloodiest Israeli assaults, killing 210 Palestinians in the area, including children, and injuring 400, Gaza’s state-run health ministry said.
Abu Ubaida, a spokesperson for Hamas’s armed al Qassam Brigades, said some hostages were also killed during the operation in al Nuseirat.
The hostages rescued from Hamas at the Nova music festival in October were Noa Al-Ghamani, 25, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrei Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari said the operation involved hundreds of soldiers and had been “planned for weeks.”
“I’m really looking forward to hugging him today,” Orit Meir, the mother of 21-year-old Almog Meir Jan, told reporters in Tel Aviv.
“This operation required the highest levels of ingenuity and courage, and our soldiers performed unparalleled,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a news conference at Sheba hospital. Humanitarian groups say children are dying of malnutrition at Gaza’s already overwhelmed Al-Aqsa hospital as the health system is destroyed.
Hamas said in a statement: “The terrorist occupation forces carried out a brutal massacre of innocent civilians in Nuseirat refugee camp, in a brutal crime that confirms the true nature of this criminal fascist organization, which lacks civilized and human values.”
Israeli police said an Israeli special forces officer was killed in the operation.
Israel News 12 aired a video showing Noa Al-Ghamani being reunited with her father, smiling, embracing him and resting her head on his shoulder.
The video of Noa’s kidnapping was widely shared shortly after he was taken to Gaza by two men on a motorcycle on October 7.
The headquarters of the Hostage Families Forum, a volunteer group helping hostages return home, hailed the “heroic operation” as a “miraculous victory.”
But it added: “In the midst of the joy in Israel right now, the Israeli government must not forget its obligation to release all 120 hostages still being held by Hamas – those alive for rehabilitation and those killed for burial.” And the Hamas attack on October 7 that sparked this latest war took some 250 hostages in southern Israel.
About half of the prisoners were released in exchange for Palestinians held during a temporary ceasefire in November, and two men were rescued in February.
Israel believes there are about 116 hostages still in the Palestinian enclave, of which at least 40 have been confirmed dead by absentee authorities.
Israeli military attacks in Gaza have killed more than 36,000 Palestinians in Hamas-controlled Gaza and destroyed schools, hospitals, homes and universities, according to the Health Ministry.
As parts of the long-besieged enclave teeter on the brink of starvation, even Israel’s closest allies are stepping up pressure on it to allow more food into the country and prevent further deaths.
Many Israelis want Netanyahu to accept the deal announced last month by U.S. President Joe Biden, but his far-right allies have threatened to topple the government if he does so.