Hamas says other hostages killed in Israeli rescue operation in Gaza

Abu Obeida, spokesman for the al-Qassam Brigades – the armed wing of Hamas – said this Saturday that in the Israeli operation that rescued four hostages in Nuseirat, the center of the Gaza Strip, other kidnapped people died who were in the area.

“The enemy managed to free some of their captives by committing horrible massacres, but at the same time killed some of them during the operation,” he said in a statement without providing further evidence. Israel did not comment on the matter.

The Israeli army carried out an operation this Saturday rescue of four Israeli hostages alive in the Nuseirat refugee camp, where at least 210 Gazans were killed and more than 400 wounded under intense Israeli fire during the mission, as confirmed by the Gaza government, controlled by Hamas since 2007. The figures were not confirmed by the Israeli side. .

The hostages rescued alive are Noa Argamani, 25 years old; Almog Meir Jan, 21; Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40, who were kidnapped by terrorists from the Palestinian group at the “Nova” music festival, in the midst of the unprecedented and bloody attacks on October 7 in several towns in southern Israel.

“Israel does not surrender to terrorism and acts with limitless creativity and boldness to bring back our kidnapped people,” Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said in a statement, vowing to continue the fight until everyone is freed.

The operation was “daring in nature, brilliantly planned and executed in an extraordinary manner,” said Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

From the Palestinian enclave, Hamas’s response came shortly after. “What the Zionist enemy carried out in the Nuseirat area is an aggravated war crime, and the first to be harmed by it are its captives. The operation will pose great danger to the enemy’s captives and will have a negative impact on their conditions and lives,” said Abu Obeida.

The al Qassam Brigades assured months ago that at least 70 hostages had died in captivity for the “Zionist bombings” and last month indicated that several Israeli soldiers had been kidnapped in Jabalia, north of the enclave.

Those who remain kidnapped

With this rescue, of the 251 kidnapped on October 7, 116 captives remain in the enclave, at least 40 of them dead according to Israel; while there have been four other hostages for years, two of them dead.

Since the war began, Israel and Hamas only reached a one-week truce agreement in late November, which allowed the release of 105 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.

Additionally, four hostages were released by Hamas in October; seven rescued by the Army -counting those from this Saturday-; and the bodies of 20 hostages have been recovered, three of whom Israeli troops killed by mistake.

Last month Israel recovered the bodies of seven hostages in several operations in the Jabalia refugee camp, most of them also kidnapped at the Nova festival; and last week it confirmed the death of four hostages – all elderly men – who died in captivity, although their bodies are still being held in the Strip.

Source: EFE

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