Israeli forces have rescued four Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas into the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7 2023 while 94 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes in the same area.
The hostages, 25-year-old Noa Argamani, Shlomi Ziv, 40, Almog Meir Jan, 21, and Andrey Kozlov, 27, were abducted while attending the Nova festival, an outdoor music event in a rural area near the Gaza-Israel fence.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari, stated that the four were located in proper medical condition in two buildings at the heart of Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp.
The IDF said the operation, which has been planned for weeks, was jointly carried out with the police’s elite National Counter Terror Unit and the Israel Security Agency.
One fighter was seriously injured during the operation.
In videos released by the government, Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Argamani on the phone.
Following the rescue of the four, 120 Israeli hostages remain in the Gaza Strip, with 43 of them considered by Israel as dead.
“We will do everything to get them back as well,” Hagari said.
Meanwhile, local medical sources said that 94 Palestinians were killed and dozens of others injured on Saturday in Israeli airstrikes on the Nuseirat camp and some other areas in the central Gaza Strip.
Palestinian security sources said deadly clashes broke out on the ground between Palestinian militants and Israeli troops raiding the Nuseirat camp under the cover of artillery and aerial bombardment.
According to Times of Israel, the operation to rescue Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41 was planned out weeks in advance.
The Times of Israel. Known originally as “Seeds of Summer,” its name was changed after the event to “Operation Arnon” after Yamam officer Chief Inspector Arnon Zmora, who was critically wounded by Hamas fire amid the rescue of three of the hostages and later died of his wounds.
