IDF says rescued 4 Israeli hostages alive in Gaza Strip

Israel said on Saturday that it retrieved four Israeli hostages from the central Gaza Strip after a military operation in the area.

The Israeli army said in a statement that in a "combined operation by the Israeli forces, the Shin Bet, and the police, four Israeli hostages were freed this morning" in Nuseirat refugee camp.

The army identified the freed hostages as Noa Argamani, 25; Andrey Kozlov, 27; Shlomi Ziv, 40; and Almog Meir, 21.

It also said the hostages were found in two separate areas of the camp, noting that they were in good health.

Earlier on Saturday, the Israeli army launched an offensive on several areas in the central Gaza Strip, resulting in dozens of casualties among Palestinians, according to Palestinian medical sources.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since a Hamas attack last Oct. 7 despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire

More than 36,700 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 83,500 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.