Four Israeli hostages rescued from Gaza after 245 days in captivity

Four Israeli hostages kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7 have been rescued after 245 days in Hamas captivity, according to the IDF.

Noa Argamani, 25, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andri Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40, were found alive and healthy in two separate locations in Nuseirat, Gaza, the IDF said.

Outside of prisoner exchanges, it is the largest liberation of Israeli hostages since the war in Gaza began last October.

Israeli forces rescued Argamani and three others in a ‘complex’ joint operation between the Israel Securities Authority and Israel Police in central Gaza.

They have since been taken to the ‘Sheba’ Tel-HaShomer Medical Center for further medical examinations.

One Israeli soldier was injured in the rescue operation, which had been planned by the the Shin Bet intelligence agency and the Navy for several weeks.

Dozens of Gazans were reportedly killed in the special forces mission, which received covering fire from both ground and air.

A video of Argamani reaching out her arm and screaming ‘Please don’t kill me’ as militants drove her away on a motorbike was one of the first and mostly widely shared clips to emerge from October 7.

Now, 245 days after the student was kidnapped, new footage shows her smiling as she hugs and kisses her father after she was rescued.

Later she was handed a phone so she could speak directly with Israel’s President Isaac Herzog.

Noa’s boyfriend, Avinatan Or, was also seen being walked away with his hands behind his back in the original footage of the kidnapping.

He remains in Hamas captivity in Gaza, along with roughly 120 other hostages taken on October 7.

Both had been at the Nova music festival, near the Gaza border, where more than 360 people, mostly under 30 years of age, were killed.

The dead bodies of three other festivalgoers taken that day – Shani Louk, Amit Buskila and Itzhak Gelerenter – were recovered by Israeli forces in Gaza last month.

Shani Louk, a 22-year-old German citizen, had been pictured surrounded by gun-waving militants as they paraded her half-naked, lifeless body through the streets in the back of a truck.

Her father, Nissim, said: ‘She was dancing the whole night. She was so happy,’ Nissim Louk said.

‘She never thought that there is evil in the world because she was a free spirit. She saw it only for a couple of seconds.’

More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, launched in the aftermath of October 7.

Homes, schools, refugee camps, hospitals and farms have been destroyed in a so far failed bid to destroy Hamas and liberate the hostages.

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