Israel said Saturday it rescued four hostages who were kidnapped in a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, in the largest such hostage recovery operation since the war with Hamas began in Gaza.
Heavy fighting raged in central Gaza, where the hostages were rescued, and at least 55 people, including children, were killed in multiple attacks Saturday as people fled for safety, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Hamas used the families as human shields.
The army said it rescued Noa Argamani, 25; Almog Meir Jan, 21; Andrey Kozlov, 27; and Shlomi Ziv, 40, in two separate locations in a complex special daytime operation in the heart of Nuseirat in central Gaza.
They were among the hostages kidnapped during the massacre of young people at a music festival in southern Israel on October 7. The video of her abduction was among the first to surface, images of her horrified face widely shared — Argamani detained between two men on a motorcycle, one arm outstretched and the other held down as she screams, “Don’t kill me!”
Her mother, Liora, has stage four brain cancer and, in April, released a video pleading to see her daughter before she dies.
Hamas killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped some 250 hostages during the Oct. 7 attack, which triggered the Israel-Hamas war. About half were released in a weeklong cease-fire in November. Israel says more than 130 hostages remain, with about a third of those believed dead, and divisions are deepening in the country over the best way to bring them home.
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