Israel rescues 4 hostages kidnapped in a Hamas attack on October 7. At least 55 dead in attacks in Gaza

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel said Saturday it had rescued four hostages kidnapped in a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, the largest hostage rescue operation of its kind since the war with Hamas began in the Gaza Strip.

Heavy fighting broke out in the center of the Gaza Strip, where the hostages were rescued. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 55 people, including children, were killed in several attacks on Saturday as people fled their shelters.

The army said it rescued Noa Argamani, 25; Almog Meir, January 21; Andrei Kozlov, 27; and Shlomi Ziv, 40, in two different locations as part of a complex special operation during the day in the heart of Nuseirat in central Gaza.

Argamani has been one of the most high-profile hostages since she was kidnapped at a music festival in southern Israel. The video of her abduction was one of the first to emerge, with images of her horrified face widely shared – Argamani is held between two men on a motorbike, one arm outstretched, the other held tight as she screams: “Don’t kill me!”

Her mother Liora is suffering from terminal brain cancer and released a video in April begging to be allowed to see her daughter one more time before she died.

In the October 7 attack that sparked the war between Israel and Hamas, Hamas killed around 1,200 people and kidnapped around 250 hostages. About half of them were released in November under a week-long ceasefire. Israel says more than 130 hostages remain in prison, about a quarter of whom are believed dead. Disagreements are deepening in the country over the best way to bring them home.

The rescue came as international pressure mounts on Israel to limit civilian bloodshed in the Gaza war. The war marked eight months of fighting as of Friday, with more than 36,700 Palestinians killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return to the Middle East next week in search of a breakthrough in what appear to be stalled ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas.

Palestinians are suffering from widespread hunger as the war has largely disrupted supplies of food, medicine and other goods. According to UN agencies, over a million people in Gaza could face peak starvation deaths by mid-July.

Saturday’s operation is the largest rescue of living hostages since the war began, bringing the number of prisoners rescued to seven.

Two men were rescued in February when troops stormed a heavily guarded apartment in a densely populated city, and a woman was rescued after the attack in October. Israeli troops have so far recovered at least 16 bodies of Gaza hostages, according to the Israeli government.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called the rescue a “heroic operation” on Saturday and said the army would continue fighting until all hostages were returned.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing growing pressure to end fighting in Gaza, with many Israelis urging him to accept a deal announced by US President Joe Biden last month, but far-right allies are threatening to overthrow his government if he does so.

Argamani spoke by phone with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Netanyahu. In an audio message released by the government, Netanyahu is heard asking Argamani how she is and saying he has not given up on the hostages. She tells him she is “very excited” and says she hasn’t heard Hebrew in so long.

Her boyfriend Yonatan Levi reacted to the news in disbelief. “Wow. I don’t know what to say. So excited, such a crazy reality. Now I’m so happy and joyful,” said Levi.

The rescue came as Israel intensified its operations throughout the central Gaza Strip, where the hostages were rescued.

The bodies of the dozens of Palestinians killed on Saturday were brought to Al-Aqsa Hospital, where Associated Press reporters counted them. They later saw more injured and dead arriving at the hospital from Nuseirat and the eastern areas of Deir al-Balah as plumes of smoke rose in the distance.

On Thursday, an Israeli airstrike hit a UN-run school campus in Nuseirat, killing more than 33 people in the school, including three women and nine children.

Israel said there were about 30 militants in the school at the time and on Friday released the names of 17 militants it said were killed in the attack. However, only nine of those names matched the hospital morgue records of the dead. One of the suspected militants was an 8-year-old boy, according to hospital records.

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Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Gaza at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.