Israel released dramatic footage of the country’s special forces rescuing hostages held by Hamas in a daring Saturday raid on Nuseirat, central Gaza.
The video showing the rescue of three of the four hostages rescued on Saturday — Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv — was posted Monday on the Israeli Police’s official Telegram channel.
WARNING: The following video contains images of violence that some readers may find disturbing.
The footage from helmet cameras showed special forces from the elite Yamam counter-terrorism unit and agents from the Shin Bet — Israel’s FBI equivalent — moving through bushes under fire as they made their way to the building where the hostages were housed.
The Times of Israel provided a translation of the footage in its report on the video.
“Hebrew, Hebrew, where is everyone?” a Yamam officer called out to the hostages.
“Here, they are here,” another officer responded.
The first officer in the team asked the hostages to tell him their names, after which he said, “Three [hostages] are in our hands.”
???? WATCH: One of the first moments when Shlomi, Andrey and Almog board the “Yasur” helicopter after being rescued from Hamas after 245 days as hostages: pic.twitter.com/m090cHf8Ym
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 10, 2024
The raided house belonged to 36-year-old Palestinian journalist Abdullah Al-Jamal and his physician father, 74-year-old Ahmed Al-Jamal, who were imprisoning the captives at Hamas’ behest.
Before his death during the raid, Abdullah had worked with the Washington-based The Palestine Chronicle and the Qatari state-affiliated outlet Al Jazeera.
The videographed raid was one of two simultaneous operations in the Palestinian territory. In a separate operation on a nearby building, female hostage Noa Argamani was rescued, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Once the hostages were rescued, however, the special forces’ cover was blown, and the clandestine operation escalated into a gunfight on Nuseirat’s streets, the outlet reported.
The operation almost failed when Israeli armored vehicles were struck and disabled by Palestinian terrorists. Fortunately, another group of Israeli soldiers stepped in and escorted the hostages to an area adjacent to the U.S.-constructed pier in Gaza, from where the rescued captives were flown to Israel.
Special forces planned and trained for the raid for about a month after receiving intelligence of the hostages being housed at civilian homes in Nuseirat.
The operation was carried out in broad daylight to reportedly seize the element of surprise.
The mission was made possible thanks to the contribution of a “fusion cell” formed in Israel with the assistance of American and Israeli military intelligence analysts who used intercepted communications and overhead imagery to trace the locations of hostages, The New York Times reported.