Over 210 Palestinians killed during Israeli hostage recovery operation

At least 210 Palestinians, including children, were murdered in Israel’s most recent hostage rescue operation, which also resulted in the safe escape of four Israeli hostages, a Gaza health official reported.

According to a joint statement by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), Israel Police, and Israel Securities Authority, Noa Argamani, 25, Almong Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40, were saved.

Two distinct places within Nuseirat, central Gaza, saw the execution of the special operation, which involved a strong air and ground assault. The IDF claims that all four of the hostages were taken from the Nova music event.

The bodies of 109 Palestinians including 23 children and 11 women were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, and spokesperson Khalil Degran told the Associated Press that more than 100 wounded also arrived to the hospital. In addition, he said the rest of the 210 Palestinians killed were taken to Al-Awda Hospital after the spokesman said he spoke to the director there. But the numbers at that hospital could not be confirmed by the AP.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue the war until all hostages are freed, but Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official now based in Lebanon, struck a drastically different tone.

“The horrific massacre committed today by Netanyahu and his fascist government against the Palestinian people in Gaza, which led to slaughter of 210 and more than 400 wounded so far — under the pretext of liberating those detained by the resistance — confirms what the resistance has said repeatedly: that Netanyahu doesn’t plan to reach an agreement to stop the war and free the captured Israelis peacefully,” Naim said, according to the Associated Press.

The hostage rescue and subsequent deaths of Palestinians comes as Israel continues to face heavy international pressure and criticism for the number of civilian deaths, along with questions around whether Israel is doing enough to prevent them.

The United Nations, on Friday, added Israel to the body’s “blacklist” for violations against children and Progressive Democrats continue to decry Israel’s actions and some have vowed to not attend Netanyahu’s upcoming address to a joint session of Congress.