Four Israeli hostages, including Noa Argamani, released after eight months in captivity – The Nation | Globalnews.ca

Israel Saturday's largest hostage The rescue operation, which has been ongoing since the start of the latest war with Hamas, has seen four Palestinians evacuated to safety from central Gaza amid heavy air and ground attacks by the military. A health official said at least 94 dead Palestinians, including children, were taken to local hospitals.

The Israeli military said it had managed to free Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41, in a daytime operation in the center of Nusserat while under fire at two locations. Israelis were ecstatic. The military said all were safe. After 246 days in captivity, they were flown by helicopter for medical checks and reunited with their loved ones, tears streaming down their faces.

Agamani is one of the most high-profile hostages to have been kidnapped. She was abducted along with three others at a music festival. Video footage of the abduction showed her sitting on a motorcycle between two men, screaming, “Don't kill me!”

Her mother, Liora, suffers from brain cancer and released a video pleading to see her daughter. Israel's Channel 13 said Argamani was transferred to the hospital where her mother was being treated. In a message released by the government, Argamani told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that she was “very emotional” and said she had not heard Hebrew for a long time.

Netanyahu vowed in a statement to continue fighting until all hostages were freed. Defense Minister Yoav Galant said the operation was “bold in nature, well-planned and brilliantly executed.”

Israeli planes circled overhead as the bodies of nearly 100 dead Palestinians were taken to Al-Aqsa Hospital. Spokesman Khalil Degran told The Associated Press that more than 100 wounded were taken to hospitals. AP reporters saw dozens of bodies being brought in from the Nusseirat and Deir al-Balah areas, with smoke billowing in the distance and armored vehicles passing by.

Among the dead was a baby. Children were covered in blood and howling. Bodies were laid on the ground outside, barefoot, as more wounded were rushed in.

“Two of my cousins ​​were killed and two others were seriously injured. They didn't commit any crime. They were just staying at home,” one relative said amid the chaos. As Palestinians explored the freshly destroyed building, a small child sat on a collapsed metal door, bewildered.

Neighboring Egypt condemned the Israeli attack on the Nusserat refugee camp “in the strongest terms,” ​​with the Egyptian Foreign Ministry calling it a “flagrant violation of all the rules of international law.” Neighboring Jordan also condemned the attack.

“This bloodbath must stop immediately,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on social media platform X, citing reports of civilian deaths.

The Israeli military said it struck “a threat to our forces in the area” and that one commando died from his wounds.

American hostage teams, which are multi-agency teams, provided advice and support throughout the search and rescue of the hostages, according to a Biden administration official who was not authorized to comment and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Hamas took about 250 hostages in the Oct. 7 attack, which killed about 1,200 people. About half of the hostages were released during a week-long ceasefire in November. About 120 hostages remain, of whom 43 have been declared dead. Survivors include about 15 women, two children under the age of five and two men in their 80s.

Saturday's operation brings the total number of hostages rescued to seven. Two were released in February and one was freed after the October attack. Israeli forces have recovered at least 16 bodies, according to the government.

The latest rescue effort has boosted morale among Israelis amid deepening divisions over how to bring the hostages home. Many Israelis have urged Netanyahu to accept a ceasefire announced last month by U.S. President Joe Biden, but far-right allies have threatened to bring down his government if he does.

Netanyahu, whose popularity has slumped, rushed to the hospital to greet the freed hostages, but thousands of Israelis gathered again on Saturday night for the latest anti-government demonstration, calling for a ceasefire and the return of all the hostages.

It was unclear what impact the rescue operation would have on apparently stalled ceasefire efforts. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to return to the Middle East next week to seek a breakthrough.

“The hostage release and ceasefire agreement currently under discussion will ensure the release of all remaining hostages and provide security for Israel and relief for innocent civilians in Gaza,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement.

International pressure is building on Israel to reduce civilian bloodshed in Gaza's war, which has lasted eight months and left more than 36,700 Palestinians dead as of Friday, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which says no distinction is made between combatants and civilians.

Palestinians also face widespread hunger as the war and Israeli restrictions have largely cut off aid deliveries.

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World leaders call for ceasefire as Israel continues airstrikes in central Gaza, killing at least 11 people

Israel is stepping up its operations in central Gaza, where the hostages were rescued. On Thursday, an Israeli airstrike hit a UN-run school in Nusserat, killing 33 people inside, including three women and nine children.

Israel said there were about 30 militants inside the hospital and released the names of 17 people killed on Friday. However, only nine of them matched hospital morgue records. One of the suspected militants was an 8-year-old boy, according to hospital records.

The Israeli military insisted on Saturday that “Hamas is a terrorist organization that often uses forged documents to disguise terrorists as women or children.”

Meanwhile, Benny Gantz, a popular centrist member of Israel's three-member wartime cabinet who had threatened to resign if the government did not adopt a new Gaza war plan by Saturday, has delayed a planned announcement as Netanyahu urged him not to step down.