A young Palestinian girl walks amidst the debris on June 9, 2024, after an operation by Israeli special forces in the Nusseirat camp, in central Gaza Strip. (Credit: Eyad Baba/AFP)
On Saturday morning, four Israeli hostages were freed during an operation in the Nusseirat camp in the Gaza Strip. The operation, dubbed as "heroic" by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left 274 Palestinians dead, including women and children, and over 700 injured, according to Gaza authorities. The Israeli military claims its operation — carried out one day before Israeli minister Benny Gantz resigned from the war Cabinet — resulted in less than 100 casualties.
What happened during the raid?
On the morning of June 8, the Israeli army chief of staff and the head of the internal intelligence service gave the green light to carry out the operation, which was launched at 11 a.m., Israeli Admiral Daniel Hagari told the New York Times.
According to NYT, the operation, carried out in broad daylight to “surprise” Hamas, was canceled multiple times before finally being approved right before its launch.
Palestinian witnesses described troops arriving in two infiltration vehicles, one of which resembled the trucks used for delivering humanitarian aid throughout the enclave — a claim Israel denied. Witnesses also added that before the operation, the Israeli air force heavily bombed the area. Nidal Abdo, a resident of the Nusseirat camp, told CNN that "maybe 150 bombs fell in less than 10 minutes as we were fleeing."
Operation details
According to Hagari’s retelling, the Israeli army targeted “Hamas infrastructure” during the first phase of the operation before the commando infiltrated the refugee camp and conducted a ground operation, supported by heavy bombardments in the crowded camp streets. Some members of the special forces were disguised as Palestinians and Hamas members, witnesses told CNN. Hagari said the Israeli commando came under heavy fire from Palestinian fighters during its operation, including by rockets, resulting in the death of an Israeli officer.
"The air force started firing to give the special forces a corridor, a wall of fire," retired Major General David Tsur said to the Washington Post.
Once the captives were retrieved and placed in two helicopters stationed near the American humanitarian floating port, the soldiers announced by radio: "The diamonds are in our hands."
Around 1:30 p.m., the Israeli government announced that four hostages had been freed: Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv. According to the Israeli army, all four had been taken on Oct. 7 from the Nova electronic music festival, which was being held some 5 kilometers from the border.
Reactions and aftermath
Witnesses described the attack as "hell on earth,” while emergency services at al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah could not keep up with the massive influx of injuries.
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan acknowledged that there had been civilian casualties, calling them "tragic," and reiterating the White House’s call for Hamas to accept the latest American proposal to end the ongoing conflict.
After the operation, Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas's military wing, stated that Israel had killed several other hostages.
Hagai Levine, from the Forum of Hostage and Missing Families, told CNN that operations like this are not sustainable, and could not save the remaining 120 hostages. He called for a cease-fire agreement to return all hostages.