Israeli forces freed four hostages held by Hamas since October after an operation in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday, while the government media office of Hamas-controlled Gaza said 210 Palestinians had been killed and at least 400 wounded in Israeli strikes on refugee camp the Al-Nuseirat from which the hostages were taken.
It is currently unclear whether the rescue of the hostages and the Israeli airstrike were part of the same operation, but it all took place in Al-Nuseirat, a densely populated area that is often the scene of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
An Israeli military spokesman said the hostage rescue operation took place under fire in the heart of a residential neighborhood, where Hamas hid the captives among Gaza civilians under the guard of armed militants.
Israeli forces returned fire, including airstrikes, spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari added. One Israeli special forces soldier was killed during the operation, according to a police statement.
Three men and one woman, who were abducted from the Nova music festival in southern Israel on October 7th last year by Hamas-led militants, have been taken to hospital for a medical examination, the army announced, adding that they are in good health.
Their names are Noa Argamani (25), Almog Meir Jan (21), Andrey Kozlov (27) and Shlomi Ziv (40).
After the eight-month war in Gaza and the bloody attack by Hamas on October 7th, 116 of the approximately 250 hostages abducted by the militants, according to Israeli information, are still in the Palestinian enclave. Of the 250, the authorities declared at least 40 dead in absentia.
At the same time, Palestinian health ministry officials and local doctors said that an Israeli military attack in Al-Nuseirat killed dozens of people, including women and children.
The ministry did not say how many Hamas fighters were among those killed.
The Hamas-controlled government media office reported that 210 people were killed and more than 400 wounded.
”It was like a horror movie, but this was a real massacre. Israeli drones and warplanes fired all night randomly at people’s houses and at people who tried to flee the area,” said Ziyad (45), a paramedic and resident of Al Nuseirat.
The bombing focused on a local market and the Al-Awda mosque, he told Reuters via a messaging app.
“In order to free four people, Israel killed dozens of innocent civilians,” he said.
Nuseirat, a historic Palestinian refugee camp, was exposed to heavy Israeli bombardment during the war, and fierce ground fighting took place in the eastern part, N1 writes.
E.Dz.
