Four hostages seized at Nova festival freed in Gaza raid

[Pelican Press 0]

Four hostages seized at Nova festival freed in Gaza raid

23 minutes ago

By Alex Therrien, BBC News • Hugo Bachega, Middle East correspondent

Reunions after four ******** hostages freed in IDF raid

Four hostages kidnapped by ****** have been reunited with their families, after being rescued in a raid that ************ officials say ******* scores of people.

Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrei Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41, were freed on Saturday, eight months since being kidnapped from the Nova music festival on 7 October.

******** forces, backed by air strikes, fought intense **** battles with ****** in the Nuseirat area, in what the ******* Defense Forces called a “high-risk, complex mission”.

************ officials say women and children were among those ******* in the military ********.

Two hospitals in Gaza, al-Aqsa hospital and al-Awda hospital, said they had counted 70 bodies between them, while ******’s government media office said at least 210 people had been ******* in ******** strikes in and around the al-Nuseirat ******** camp.

******* estimated there were fewer than 100 casualties, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said.

Images from the area show intense bombardment, and hospitals there said they were overwhelmed with casualties, including children, and that they were unable to treat everyone. Other photos show people mourning the *****.

Grief in Gaza as scores ******* in IDF ******** raid

‘Precise intelligence’

The rare rescue of hostages – a ****** operation conducted by the IDF, ******* Security Agency and ******* Police – comes eight months into war with ****** in Gaza.

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said the mission was based on “precise” intelligence and the hostages were freed from two separate buildings in Nuseirat.

******** forces came under ***** during the operation, he said. One special forces officer was wounded in the Gaza ******** rescue and later ***** in hospital, ******** police said.

The IDF said the released hostages were all in good health, and they were later pictured embracing family members at a medical centre near Tel Aviv.

******** Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised ******** forces for operating “creatively and bravely”.

“We will not let up until we complete the mission and return home all the hostages – both those alive and *****,” he added.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said special forces operated “under heavy *****” when rescuing the four hostages.

“This is one of the most heroic and extraordinary operations I have witnessed over the course of 47 years serving in *******’s defence establishment,” Mr Gallant said.

The US also provided intelligence support to ******* in the raid, according to the BBC’s partner CBS News which cited two ********* officials.

They added that US forces did not take part in the operation and the temporary pier in Gaza – which has now resumed aid deliveries after being damaged by heavy seas – was not used in the operation.

Reuters

****** says scores of people, including children, were ******* and injured in central Gaza

Miss Argamani, a ********-born ******** citizen, was kidnapped from the Nova festival and harrowing video footage from 7 October showed the 26-year-old being taken away on the back of a motorbike screaming, “Don’t ***** me!”

Fresh video of her being reunited with her father, smiling and embracing him on board a vehicle, was broadcast soon after news of the rescue operation on Saturday.

Mr Kozlov, a Russian who moved to ******* in 2022, and Mr Ziv had both been working as security guards at the festival when they were kidnapped.

Mr Jan had been due to start a job at a large tech company the day after he was kidnapped.

The Hostages Families Forum Headquarters, a group representing the families of the hostages, described the rescue as “a miraculous triumph” and thanked the IDF for the “heroic operation”.

The group added: “The ******** government must remember its commitment to bring back all 120 hostages still held by ****** — the living for rehabilitation, the murdered for burial.”

Reuters

Almog Meir Jan was one of the hostages released alive from the central Gaza Strip

Getty Images

Andrey Kozlov is a Russian-******** who worked in security at the music festival from where he was kidnapped on 7 October

While there was jubilation in *******, images and video showed ******, injury and destruction in the area, including around the al-Nuseirat ******** camp.

According to BBC Verify, it appeared that ******** strikes took place across several locations in central Gaza, but Nuseirat – the location of the IDF operation to release four hostages – seems to have been hit hardest.

One video from the al-Aqsa hospital shows numerous people with injuries laying on the floor, while other videos showed a frequent stream of new patients being driven in by car and ambulance and carried into the building.

The ****** government media office said at least 400 were wounded in the densely-populated area.

************ President Mahmoud Abbas has called for an emergency ******* Nations Security Council session to discuss what he has called “the ******* massacre that was carried out by the ******** forces” in and around the al-Nuseirat ******** camp.

The ********* Union’s high representative for foreign affairs, Josep Borrell said on X: “Reports from Gaza of another massacre of civilians are appalling.

“We condemn this in the strongest terms. The bloodbath must end immediately.”

Gantz’s expected resignation postponed

The rescue of hostages comes amid efforts for a ceasefire and ******** release deal between ******* and ******.

Mr Netanyahu has been urged to reach an agreement but faces opposition from far-right allies who say military action is the only way to bring the hostages back.

Saturday’s operation is the most successful rescue of hostages by the ******** military in this war – and could change the calculation of a prime minister who is under increasing pressure.

******** war cabinet minister Benny Gantz cancelled a news conference which had been scheduled for Saturday.

It comes amid speculation Mr Gantz would quit having

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if Mr Netanyahu did not approve a post-war plan for Gaza by 8 June.

World leaders, including US President Joe Biden, France’s Emmanuel Macron and ******* Chancellor Olaf Scholz have welcomed the news of the ******** rescue.

In response to the military offensive in Nuseirat, ****** political leader Ismail Haniyeh said ******* could not force its choices on the group.

He said the group would not agree to a ceasefire deal unless it achieved security for Palestinians.

During its 7 October attacks in southern ******* ****** ******* about 1,200 people and took some 251 people.

Some 116 remain in the ************ territory, including 41 the army says are *****.

A deal agreed in November saw ****** release 105 hostages in return for a week-long ceasefire and some 240 ************ prisoners in ******** jails.

On Saturday, the ******-run health ministry said the ****** toll in Gaza is now 36,801 people.

Reuters

Shlomi Ziv was part of the security detail at the festival

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