Israel says it rescued 2 hostages in Gaza Strip
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — The Israeli military said it rescued two hostages from captivity in the Gaza Strip early Monday, marking a small but symbolically significant success in its quest to bring home over 100 captives believed to be held by the Hamas militant group.
The hostages were released in a raid that included a series of Israeli strikes in Rafah, the city on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip where 1.4 million Palestinians have fled to escape fighting elsewhere in the IsraelHamas war. At least seven people were killed.
Israel has described Rafah as the last remaining Hamas stronghold in Gaza after more than four months of war and signaled that its ground offensive may soon target the densely populated city. On Sunday, the White House said President Joe Biden had warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel should not conduct a military operation against Hamas in Rafah without a “credible and executable” plan to protect civilians.
The army identified the rescued hostages as Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70, who it said were kidnapped by Hamas militants from Kibbutz Nir Yizhak in the Oct. 7 cross-border attack that triggered the war. Both were airlifted to Sheba Hospital in central Israel and were reported to be in good medical condition. They are just the second and third hostages to be rescued safely. A female soldier was rescued in November.
Monday’s raid included at least 15 airstrikes, flares and Apache helicopter fire, witnesses said. Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, a military spokesman, said the operation was
based on “precise intelligence,” and that the site, located on the second floor of a building, had been watched for some time. He said Netanyahu joined Israel’s military chief and other top officials as the raid unfolded.
Hamas militants killed an estimated 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 others in the Oct. 7 raid. An Israeli air and ground offensive has killed over 28,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, displaced over 80% of the population and led to a massive humanitarian crisis.
Over 100 hostages were freed during a weeklong cease-fire in November. Israel says about 100 hostages remain in Hamas captivity, while Hamas is holding the remains of roughly 30 others who were either killed on Oct. 7 or died in captivity. Three hostages were mistakenly killed by the army after escaping their captors in December.
Israel has made the return of all hostages one of the main goals of the war.
Concerns about Rafah
The strikes hit around Rafah’s Kuwait Hospital early Monday morning, an Associated Press journalist in
Rafah said. Some of those wounded in the strikes had been brought to the hospital.
The Israeli military earlier said it struck “terror targets in the area of Shaboura” — which is a district in Rafah.
Palestinian health officials did not immediately offer any casualty information. The army said it had killed at least three militants in the raid. An AP journalist counted seven bodies.
Mr. Netanyahu has said sending ground troops into Rafah is essential to meeting Israel’s war goals. Mr. Biden has urged Israel to exercise extreme caution before moving in. An estimated 1.4 million Palestinians — more than half of Gaza’s population — are now crammed into Rafah, increasing its population five-fold. Hundreds of thousands of people are now living in sprawling tent camps and overcrowded U.N. shelters.
Mr. Biden’s remarks, made in a phone call with Mr. Netanyahu late Sunday, were his most forceful language yet on the possible operation. Mr. Biden, who last week called Israel’s military response in Gaza “over the top,” also sought “urgent and specific” steps to strengthen humanitarian aid.