Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip — Israel said on Saturday it had rescued four hostages from two locations in the center of Nuseira in the Gaza Strip.
Noah Al-Ghamani, 25; Almog Meir, January 2021; Andrei Kozlov, 27; and Shlomi Ziv, 40, were abducted by Hamas at the Nova music festival in October, the Israel Defense Forces announced on the 7th.
The rescue operation came after a morning airstrike in central Gaza, with video showing dozens of people crowding into the emergency department of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the only functioning hospital in the area.
Hamas called it an “unprecedented brutal attack” and said there were “dozens of martyrs and wounded in the streets,” but it was not yet clear how many people were killed and injured in the attack.
The rescued hostages were taken to Sheva Tel Hashomer Medical Center and were in good condition, the Israel Defense Forces said.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said at least 150 Palestinians were killed in Saturday’s Israeli raids.
Video reviewed by ABC News showed more than a dozen bodies lying in the street, covered in blood and surrounded by rubble.
Other pictures showed people fleeing Nuseira market and large numbers of people arriving at hospital carrying injured people and children as smoke filled the background.
A spokesman for Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital said the hospital received 55 bodies on Saturday as Israeli forces stormed central Gaza and was calling on people to donate blood.
Hospitals are full and cannot accommodate any more injured people.
“We call on the international community and UN agencies to intervene to stop this brutal invasion,” the hospital said in a statement.
After meeting with the rescued hostages and their families, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the rescue operation “excellent” and told reporters he would “do whatever it takes” to free the hostages.
“We are committed to the release of all hostages and we expect Hamas to release them all, but if they do not, we will use all means to bring them home. Hamas commits war crimes every day, including taking hostages. Our soldiers are taking the most courageous and moral actions to end this war with victory over the killers and kidnappers, and we will win,” Netanyahu said.
Earlier, the IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari told reporters that the hostages were being held in a civilian area and that there was no way to reach them except through Gaza civilians. The three male hostages were being held together in an apartment, while the fourth, a female hostage, was being held in another apartment about 650 feet away, Hagari said.
President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the hostage rescue at a news conference on Saturday.
President Biden welcomed the safe return of the four hostages from Gaza and vowed that the United States would not relax its efforts until all hostages were home.
“I join President Macron in welcoming the safe release of the four hostages, who have been returned to their families in Israel. We will not stop our efforts until all hostages are home and a ceasefire is achieved. It is essential that this happens,” Biden said.
President Macron also spoke before Biden to congratulate him on the news.
“In Gaza, we want the hostages to be released immediately and we can only welcome the release of the four hostages by the Israeli forces. We want to achieve an immediate ceasefire and open up the prospect of a unique political solution that will bring about a just and lasting peace and satisfy the security concerns of both peoples,” Macron said.
“That is why we support the US comprehensive proposal,” he added, calling on Israel to step up humanitarian assistance to Rafah and describing the situation as “unacceptable.”
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