(8 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jerusalem – 8 June 2024
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Sam Mednick, Associated Press:
"Israel has rescued four hostages in what it’s calling a complex daytime operation in the center of Gaza. Israel said it rescued three men and one woman who were abducted from southern Israel from a Nova music festival when Hamas attacked on October 7th. It said that it rescued them from two separate buildings in Nuseirat and that it escaped under gunfire. Now, this is the largest hostage rescue operation since the war began, and this brings the total of rescued hostages to seven. But there are still about 120 hostages believed to be held in Gaza. 43 of them are believed to be dead. That’s according to the military. Now, this comes as Israel is ramping up its offensive in Gaza and specifically in central Gaza. At least 94 people have been killed in multiple attacks in the Deir al-Balah and Nuseirat areas on Saturday, and at least 100 more have been injured."
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
Israel on Saturday rescued four hostages who were kidnapped in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, the largest such recovery operation since the war began.
Israel’s army said it rescued Noa Argamani, 25; Almog Meir Jan, 21; Andrey Kozlov, 27; and Shlomi Ziv, 40, in a complex daytime operation in the heart of Nuseirat on Saturday morning, raiding two locations at once and under fire.
All were well, the military said, and they were taken by helicopter for medical checks and reunions with loved ones after 246 days in captivity.
Hamas took some 250 hostages during the Oct. 7 attack that killed about 1,200 people.
About half were released in a weeklong cease-fire in November.
About 120 hostages remain, with 43 pronounced dead. Survivors include about 15 women, two children under the age of 5 and two men in their 80s.
Saturday’s hostage recovery operation brings the total of rescued captives to seven.
Two men were rescued in February and a woman was rescued in the aftermath of the October attack.
Israeli troops have recovered at least 16 bodies of hostages, according to the government.
International pressure is mounting on Israel to limit civilian bloodshed in its war in Gaza, which reached its eighth month on Friday with more than 36,700 Palestinians killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians.
The bodies of nearly 100 Palestinians killed were taken to Al-Aqsa Hospital on Saturday, where spokesperson Khalil Degran told The Associated Press more than 100 wounded also arrived.
AP reporters also saw dozens of bodies brought to the hospital from the Nuseirat and Deir al-Balah areas, as smoke rose in the distance and armored vehicles rolled by.
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