Four Israeli hostages — including Noa Argamani — rescued as Hamas claims over 200 killed during ‘complex’ Gaza raid
Israeli forces freed four hostages held captive by Hamas during a daring raid in central Gaza Saturday — including Noa Argamani, the young Israeli woman who became the terrified face of the murderous incursion on the Jewish state.
The audacious mission involved several days of highly covert preparations and even a diversionary operation to distract the terrorists, officials said. “This is a clear message to Hamas,” said IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.
“We are very determined to return the hostages home and will do so in any way and by any means possible.”
The IDF, together with the Israeli police’s Yamam elite counter-terrorism unit and the Shin Bet intelligence unit, launched the “Seeds of Summer” rescue mission at 11 a.m. local time in the central Gazan Nuseirat refugee camp, where they targeted two Hamas-occupied buildings about 650 feet apart from each other housing the captives.
The “complex” operation, which the Israelis had been preparing for weeks to execute, was based on “precise intelligence,” and took place “under heavy fire,” Hagari said.
In the days leading up to the mission to save Argamani, 25, along with Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andri Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41 the Yamam anti-terrorism unit drilled various means of extraction using models of the two buildings — which military officials compared to the 1976 Entebbe raid in Uganda, the Times of Israel reported.
When the order was given Saturday morning, Yamam officers simultaneously entered the two structures in the city at 11 a.m., where the four hostages were being held in Gazans’ apartments in a pair of three- to four-story buildings, the Times of Israel reported.
To provide a distraction, the military also launched an operation to the east of Nuseirat in an apparent effort to reduce Hamas’ manpower in the city. Israeli forces received additional support for the rescue from an American cell, a US official told CNN.
No further details were yet available on the US role in the mission.
In other developments Saturday:
- Rozita Ziv, the mother of rescued hostage Shlomi Ziv, was seen getting out of a car on the street blowing kisses as she rushed toward the hospital to greet her son. Shlomi Ziv was treated by Sheba’s director of nursing, Mali Zander, whose daughter, Noa Zander, was among those murdered by terrorists on Oct. 7.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then thundered that Israel wouldn’t abandon its mission to free the remaining 116 who were kidnapped by Hamas, 40 of whom are presumed to be dead, before meeting with the hostages at the hospital. “We will not let go until we complete the mission and return all our hostages home — both the living and the dead,” he said.
- Hundreds of protesters rallied in Jerusalem’s Paris Square Saturday night, where they continued to call for a hostage deal while celebrating the rescue operation hours earlier, Times of Israel reported.
The rescue of Jan, Kozlov, and Ziv from the third floor of one of the structures resulted in a “major gun battle,” during which Yamam officer Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora was critically wounded, and later died from his injuries.
The Hamas guards at the second scene were also killed in the exchange, and the vehicle carrying the three male hostages came under fire a short time later.
But the hostages were unharmed.
“We have the diamonds in our hands,” the commandos radioed after retrieving them from the apartment buildings, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Footage shared by the IDF showed the heart-stopping moment a helicopter swooped down and extracted the men from a temporary helipad.
The rescued hostages were taken to Sheba Tel-HaShomer Medical Center near Tel Aviv and all were reported to be in good condition, according to initial medical assessments.
Saturday’s raid was the largest single recovery of hostages captured by Hamas, bringing the total number rescued up to seven.
Hamas officials claimed over 210 Palestinians were killed during the airstrikes, including women and children, but did not include how many of the casualties were terrorists.
The IDF acknowledged that civilians were injured and killed amid the fighting, squarely placing the blame on Hamas for holding the hostages in a civilian environment.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called the rescue operation a “bloody massacre” and called for an emergency UN Security Council session to address the events, the PA’s official news agency WAFA said.
The four were kidnapped at the Supernova music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7, when Hamas killed 1,200 people and kidnapped another 251.
During a news conference in Paris with French President Emanuel Macron, President Joe Biden celebrated the hostage’s return. “We won’t stop working until all the hostages come home and a ceasefire is reached.”
Noa’s relieved dad Yaakov Argamani stressed one singular goal — to bring all the hostages home.
“We must do everything, but everything, as soon as possible to bring them home, so that their families can embrace them in happiness.”
With Post Wires
