Great success for the Israeli army. On the morning of June 8, IDF, police and Shin Bet forces liberated four of the hostages still in the hands of Hamas terrorists. The freed people are Alomg Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, Shlomi Ziv and Noa Argamani, all kidnapped in the attack on the Supernova Festival on October 7. “Noa, Almog, Andrey and Shlomi: we are so happy to have you at home. The IDF, ISA and special forces conducted a complex and heroic to rescue four hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and bring them home to Israel. We will continue to fight until 120 hostages return home“, wrote Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on was released by the Israeli police.
The green light for the blitz arrived on the evening of Thursday 6 May, when a meeting of the war and security cabinets was cancelled. According to what was reported by Ynetthe prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu he would watch the operation unfold from inside a Shin Bet security service war room. Special forces reportedly simultaneously raided the two sites of Hamas in the camp Nuseirat in the center of Gaza. The IDF specified that Noa was found in one, while the other three were in the second. The conditions of the four freed men appear to be good and, after an initial medical evaluation, they were taken to Tel Hashomer hospital for further checks. During the blitz, heavy attacks were also carried out air attacks against Hamas targets in support of ground troops. According to the health authorities of the terrorists, the raids provoked 55 victims. The organization’s top official Sami Abu Zuhri also called the release of the four hostages after nine months of fighting “a sign of failurenot a result“.
The area where the operation took place, the Nuseirat refugee camp, hosted before the war 85,409 refugees Palestinians registered withUnrwa. There were also 17 installations of the UN agency, 15 buildings hosting a total of 26 schools, a food distribution center shared with the Bureij refugee camp, two health centres, two local relief and social services offices, a maintenance office and disinfection. Like many other camps, Nuseirat also suffered from power outages, lack of building materials and very high temperatures density of population.
Of the four rescued, 26-year-old Noa Argamani had become one of the symbols of the October 7 massacre. The images of Hamas men dragging her onto a motorcycle and taking her to Gaza had gone around the world. The young woman had reappeared in a video released by terrorists in January, in which the student had declared that she held two other hostages, Yossi Sharabi And Etai Sabirski, had died following an Israeli missile attack. Shortly before the publication of the video, Hamas had released an image on social media in which it invited users to guess the state of health of the abductees. After arriving at the hospital, he received a phone call from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We didn’t give you up for lost not even for a moment. I don’t know if you believed it, but we believed it and I’m happy that it happened. Get back together with your family, and hug your mother too“said the prime minister. President Isasc Herzog also spoke to Noa, telling her that “embraces it on behalf of the entire nation of Israel“. The girl responded by saying that she was “very excited, I haven’t spoken Hebrew in so long“.
According to reports from Times of Israelshortly after the news of the release of the four prisoners was released, the minister and member of the war cabinet Benny Gantz he canceled his speech scheduled for the evening, during which he would probably have announced his resignation from the government of national unity. In mid-May he launched a ultimatum to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: he would have left the government if the Prime Minister had not announced a post-war plan for the Gaza Strip before June 8, which did not happen. “My heart is full for the return of Noa, Andrey, Almog and Shlomi. I would like to commend the IDF and Shin Bet soldiers for the complex and courageous operation, which was carefully planned and inspiringly executed“, he has declared.
In addition to the raid aimed at rescuing the hostages, Israeli forces continued to target the structures of terror in the Strip. The IDF military spokesman reported that the soldiers “they raided and then demolished a Hamas training compound in Tel Sultan, in the western part of Rafah”.
In the same area, the army eliminated “numerous terrorists, located tunnel and weapons seized”. On Friday, June 7, Jewish air force and ground troops also conducted dozens of raids against terrorist cells and infrastructure.
