9-6-2024 (JERUSALEM) In a daring yet devastating mission, Israeli forces carried out a hostage rescue operation in the densely populated Gaza Strip on Saturday (Jun 8), successfully extracting four captives held by the militant group Hamas since October. However, the raid, accompanied by intense aerial bombardment, left a trail of destruction in its wake, with Palestinian officials reporting over 200 fatalities in what has become one of the bloodiest single assaults of the eight-month-long conflict.
The high-stakes operation unfolded in the heart of al-Nuseirat, a residential area in central Gaza known for its densely packed buildings and the epicenter of the ongoing clash between Israeli forces and Hamas, the ruling Palestinian militant group in the territory.
According to Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the hostages were being held captive in two separate apartment blocks within a residential neighborhood in Nuseirat. The ensuing operation to extract them was met with intense fire from Hamas militants, prompting Israeli forces to retaliate with overwhelming force from both the air and the ground.
“We know about under 100 (Palestinian) casualties. I don’t know how many from them are terrorists,” Hagari stated in a briefing with journalists, confirming the loss of an Israeli special forces commander during the operation.
On the Palestinian side, the picture that emerged was one of utter devastation. Gazan paramedics and residents recounted scenes of carnage, with scores of mangled bodies – men, women, and children alike – strewn across a local marketplace and a mosque in the aftermath of the assault.
Israel identified the rescued hostages as Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41. All four were taken to hospitals for medical evaluations and were reported to be in good health, according to military officials.
The hostages were among the approximately 250 individuals abducted by Hamas-led Palestinian militants during a deadly raid on Israeli towns and villages near Gaza on October 7, an attack that precipitated the devastating war and claimed the lives of some 1,200 Israelis, according to official figures.
In the wake of the October hostage crisis, a week-long truce in November facilitated the release of over 100 captives in exchange for around 240 Palestinians held in Israeli jails. However, according to Israeli tallies, 116 hostages remained in the coastal enclave, with at least 40 declared dead in absentia by Israeli authorities.
The spokesperson for Hamas’ armed al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Ubaida, acknowledged that some hostages were killed during the rescue operation, while previously stating that the group still held a significant number of captives.
Attempts by the United States and regional countries to broker a deal that would secure the release of all remaining hostages in exchange for a ceasefire have repeatedly failed, as Israel presses on with its assault in Gaza. Fresh airstrikes in the southern city of Rafah on Saturday evening further exacerbated the humanitarian crisis, with residents and Hamas officials reporting strikes on homes.
Amidst the chaos, a glimmer of hope emerged as Israeli News 12 broadcast footage of Argamani reunited with her father, smiling and embracing him. A video of her kidnapping, depicting her shouting “Don’t kill me!” as she was driven into Gaza on a motorbike, had circulated shortly after her abduction on October 7.
In a poignant moment, a smiling Argamani was shown speaking by phone to Israeli President Isaac Herzog from a hospital, surrounded by family and friends. “Thank you for everything, thank you for this moment,” she expressed, to which Herzog replied, “I am so excited to hear your voice, it brings tears to my eyes… Welcome home.”
Poland, too, praised the rescue of the hostages, one of whom was confirmed to be a dual Israeli-Polish citizen.
However, the jubilation was short-lived as reports from Gaza painted a grim picture of the human toll exacted by the Israeli raid. Palestinian health ministry officials and local medics reported scores of fatalities, including women and children, though the exact number of combatants among the dead remained unclear.
The Hamas-run government media office in Gaza later revised the death toll to at least 210 Palestinians, with many more wounded, surpassing earlier estimates provided by medics and health officials of up to 100 dead. The highest figure could not be immediately confirmed by Gaza’s health ministry.
Social media footage, whose authenticity could not be independently verified, depicted bodies spilling entrails onto bloodstained streets, a chilling testament to the carnage wrought by the Israeli assault.
“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,” recounted Ziad, a 45-year-old paramedic and Nuseirat resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
According to Ziad and other residents, the bombardment focused on a local marketplace and the al-Awda mosque, leaving emergency response teams scrambling to ferry the dead and wounded to hospitals in the nearby city of Deir al-Balah. However, many bodies were still left lying in the streets, including around the market district, as the scale of the devastation overwhelmed rescue efforts.
Nuseirat, a historic Palestinian refugee camp, has endured heavy Israeli bombing throughout the war, with fierce ground fighting also occurring in its eastern areas. The conflict has destabilized the wider Middle East, drawing in Hamas’ main backer Iran and its heavily armed Lebanese ally Hezbollah, prompting Israeli officials to issue warnings of a potential war on Israel’s northern border.
