Israel rescues 4 hostages in assault that killed scores of Palestinians

JERUSALEM — Israeli soldiers and special operations police rescued four hostages from the Gaza Strip on Saturday amid a heavy air and ground assault and flew them back to Israel by helicopter to be reunited with their families. The news was met with jubilation in Israel, where anxieties over the fate of the roughly 120 remaining captives have been rising after eight months of war.

Residents in the town of Nuseirat, where the hostages were being held, reported intense bombardments during the rescue operation. Khalil al-Daqran, an official at a hospital in the city, told reporters that scores of Palestinians had been killed and that the hospital’s wards and corridors were packed with the wounded.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesperson, told reporters the rescue mission took place around 11 a.m. Saturday, when forces located the four hostages in two separate buildings where they were being held by Hamas militants. He said the Israeli forces came under fire but managed to extract the hostages in two helicopters. One special forces police officer died.

The freed hostages — Noa Argamani, 26; Almog Meir Jan, 22; Andrey Kozlov, 27; and Shlomi Ziv, 41 — were kidnapped by Palestinian militants from the Nova music festival during the Hamas-led attack Oct. 7, when about 1,200 people were killed in Israel and 250 taken hostage, Israel says. All four were in good medical condition and were transferred to a hospital in Israel for further examinations, Israeli authorities said in a statement.

The fate of the hostages has been a source of intense political pressure on the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, amid the broader criticism that his government, for its own reasons, is in no hurry to wind down the conflict or to address the issue of who should govern Gaza after the war.

Given the hostage rescue, Benny Gantz, a member of Netanyahu’s war Cabinet who has threatened to depart over Netanyahu’s refusal to talk about a postwar plan for Gaza, indefinitely postponed a news conference scheduled for Saturday evening, citing “recent events.”

Hagari said the Israeli air force struck Nuseirat during the rescue in order to enable Israeli forces to extract the hostages safely.

“This was a mission in the heart of a civilian neighborhood, where Hamas had intentionally hidden among homes where there were civilians, and armed militants guarding the hostages,” Hagari said.

Videos showed people running for cover as bombs rained down. After the airstrikes, the streets were so clogged with rubble that ambulances and emergency services in central Gaza were unable to respond to many of the calls to transport the wounded to hospitals, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

Video from inside Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, near Nuseirat, shared by the ministry showed chaotic scenes as medical staff struggled to treat bloodied victims lying side by side on the floor. Two men held up IV bags while next to them, a wounded person, whose face was bandaged, writhed under a blanket.

Reports of the numbers killed and wounded varied wildly in the confusion after the attack. Two Gaza health officials said that more than 200 people were killed in the strikes in Nuseirat, including women and children. They did not say how many of those killed were militants.

Hagari said the number killed should be “less than 100,” based on information he had seen. It was not possible to verify either number.

In a post on Telegram, Abu Obeida, the spokesperson of Hamas’ military wing, said Israel killed some hostages during its rescue mission Saturday. His claims could not be independently verified. He also suggested that Hamas would take punitive measures against the hostages remaining in Gaza.

News of the hostage rescue was met with joy and relief across Israel.

The main Israeli television stations switched to live coverage of the rescue and its aftermath, breaking the customary quiet and prerecorded programming typical of the Sabbath.

Spontaneous celebrations broke out across the country, and Israeli television broadcast images of the gatherings. In Tel Aviv, a lifeguard at the beach announced the news of the rescue to a cheering crowd of sunbathers from the lifeguard tower, according to social media posts.