Palestinians describe intense bombardment during hostage rescue

Palestinians residing within the densely populated space the place Israeli hostages had been being held by Hamas have described the fear of coming beneath intense bombardment and heavy gunfire in the course of the rescue operation.

On Saturday Israel’s forces, backed by air strikes, fought intense gun battles with Hamas across the Nuseirat refugee camp to free 4 hostages.

Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrei Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41, who had been kidnapped from an Israeli music competition eight months in the past have been returned to Israel.

However, the rescue operation additionally noticed scores of Palestinians killed in and round a refugee camp, together with ladies and kids, the Hamas-run well being ministry mentioned.

One man, Abdel Salam Darwish informed the BBC he was in a market shopping for greens when he heard fighter jets from above and the sound of gunfire.

“Afterwards, individuals’s our bodies had been in items, scattered within the streets, and blood stained the partitions,” he mentioned.

The European Union’s excessive consultant for overseas affairs, Josep Borrell mentioned he condemned the assaults “within the strongest phrases” saying that the “massacre should finish instantly”.

“Reviews from Gaza of one other bloodbath of civilians are appalling,” he wrote on X.

An Israeli minister mentioned he ought to condemn Hamas as an alternative.

Pictures from the Nuseirat refugee camp space confirmed intense bombardment and other people mourning the lifeless.

Two hospitals in Gaza, al-Aqsa hospital and al-Awda hospital mentioned they’d counted 70 our bodies between them. The Hamas-run well being ministry launched names of 86 individuals it says had been killed in the course of the two-hour operation, whereas Hamas’s media workplace put the dying toll at no less than 210.

Israel’s navy spokesman Daniel Hagari estimated there have been fewer than 100 casualties in what was a “high-risk, advanced mission” primarily based on “exact intelligence”.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant mentioned particular forces operated “beneath heavy fireplace” when rescuing the hostages. One particular forces officer was wounded and later died in hospital.

Movies from Gaza taken within the aftermath of the raid present scenes of carnage.

Footage from the al-Aqsa hospital reveals quite a few individuals with extreme accidents laying on the bottom, leaving barely any house on the blood-stained ground for docs to maneuver between sufferers.

Different video reveals a frequent stream of latest instances being pushed in by automobile and ambulance and carried into the constructing.

The director of the Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat informed BBC Arabic the variety of lifeless coming to the hospital elevated all through Saturday.

Dr Marwan Abu Nasser spoke additionally concerning the lack of a morgue within the hospital to accommodate the our bodies of these killed who had been taken to the hospital.

One man, who mentioned greater than 40 members of his household have been killed for the reason that battle started in October, described to the BBC being in a home which was hit by a strike.

“As quickly as these kids and ladies entered the home, the bombing assault passed off, claiming the lives of all these inside it,” he mentioned,

“This residence, which used to accommodate roughly 30 individuals who then turned 50, was bombed… solely me, my father, my spouse, and a younger man survived…we’re the one survivors out of fifty individuals.

The bloodshed on the bottom prompted a uncommon venting of criticism at Hamas from individuals in Gaza.

Hassan Omar, 37, mentioned he lamented the pointless lack of lives in Israeli strikes, telling the BBC: “For every Israeli hostage they may have freed 80 Palestinian prisoners and with none bloodshed – [that] is one million instances higher than dropping 100 lifeless.

“My message to Hamas is stopping the loss is a part of the acquire, we must always eliminate those that management us from Qatar motels.”

The rescue of hostages got here amid efforts for a ceasefire and hostage launch deal between Israel and Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been urged to achieve an settlement however faces opposition from far-right allies who say navy motion is the one approach to deliver the hostages again.

Saturday’s operation is essentially the most profitable rescue of hostages by the Israeli navy on this struggle – and analysts say it might change the calculation of a major minister who’s beneath growing strain.

In response to the navy offensive in Nuseirat, Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh mentioned Israel couldn’t pressure its selections on the group.

He mentioned the group wouldn’t comply with a ceasefire deal until it achieved safety for Palestinians.

Throughout its 7 October assaults in southern Israel Hamas killed about 1,200 individuals and took some 251 individuals.

Some 116 stay within the Palestinian territory, together with 41 the military says are lifeless.

A deal agreed in November noticed Hamas launch 105 hostages in return for a week-long ceasefire and a few 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

On Saturday, the Hamas-run well being ministry mentioned the dying toll in Gaza is now 36,801 individuals.