Army says four captives – Noa Argamani, 25; Almog Meir Jan, 21; Andrey Kozlov, 27; and Shlomi Ziv, 40 – are in ‘good medical condition’.
The Israeli military says its forces have rescued four captives from the Gaza Strip as it escalated attacks across the besieged and bombarded territory.
The announcement on Saturday came as Palestinian health officials reported many casualties as a result of “unprecedented” Israeli attacks on central Gaza and other parts of the densely populated enclave.
The army said the four captives – Noa Argamani, 25; Almog Meir Jan, 21; Andrey Kozlov, 27; and Shlomi Ziv; 40 – had been taken from the Nova music festival during the attack Palestinian group Hamas led in southern Israel on October 7.
They were in “good medical condition” and were taken to hospital for medical checks following a “complex daytime operation” in Gaza’s Nuseirat.
They were rescued in two separate locations in Nuseirat, it said.
The Israeli military had said last week that 120 captives remain in Gaza, including 41 that the army believes are dead.
Saturday’s operation was the largest recovery of alive captives since October 7, bringing the total of rescued captives to seven.
The Health Ministry in Gaza released images of bloodied patients, including children, lying in the corridors of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah after the Israeli military claimed targeting “terrorist” infrastructure in what appeared to be part of the rescue operation.
Israeli attacks on Gaza since the start of the war have killed at least 36,801 people and wounded 83,680, with thousands more missing under the rubble and presumed dead. Israel launched its assault after the Hamas-led attack during which about 1,140 people were killed and some 240 taken captive.
Hamas released almost half the captives in return for the release by Israel of dozens of Palestinians held in Israeli jails, in a deal brokered by Qatar and the United States that allowed for a brief truce in November.