Dramatic second Israeli squad leads freed hostages into helicopter

This is the dramatic moment an Israeli snatch squad led freed hostages into a waiting helicopter to escape Gaza after a deadly firefight that killed one IDF soldier.

The quick escape came after Israeli hostages were freed by the rescue squad who came under heavy fire while they carried out a daring raid in Hamas-controlled Gaza. 

But the mission left one officer Arnon Zmora dead after IDF troops raided two locations in a ‘complex daytime operation’ at 11:00am (8am GMT) today.

Israel army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the operation took place in two separate buildings ‘in the heart of a civilian neighbourhood’.

Images from the scene showed a group of around 11 running along the ground in Gaza and into the awaiting helicopter to escape. 

Among the rescued was Noa Argamani who became famous across the world when she was taken hostage by Hamas on the back of a motorcycle on October 7.

Her fellow Supernova festival attendees Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40, were also recovered. 

Special forces simultaneously raided two Hamas sites in central Gaza’s Nuseirat area with one helicopter attending each site. At one location, Noa was rescued, while Meir Jan, Kozlov, and Ziv were at the second location. 

The helicopter mission to rescue Noa went quickly and easily, but the squad set to retrieve the other three met stiff resistance and descended into a firefight with Hamas terrorists.

It was during the latter rescue mission that officer Arnon Zmora was fatally injured.

The operation is understood to have been planned for months. 

The Israeli forces practiced for the operation using models of the two houses where the hostage, referred to as ‘diamonds’ were being held, according to The Telegraph. 

The two houses, which were 200m apart, had to be raided simultaneously ‘like a surgical operation’ to reduce the risk of the hostages being killed in either one. 

It is understood they were being held in locked rooms in apartments containing both families and armed guards.

During the operation, heavy airstrikes were carried out in the area against Hamas sites. Hamas said 55 Palestinians were killed during the strikes.

After the operation, the freed Israelis were sent to the Tel Hashomer Sheba Medical Center for further medical examination, where families of the hostages celebrated their arrival. 

The IDF has released images of the Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant approving the operation together with IDF Chief of the General Staff and other generals.

He said it was ‘one of the most heroic and extraordinary operations’ he has witnessed in over the course of 47 years serving in Israeli defence .

‘While under fire inside the buildings, under fire on the way out from Gaza, our forces rescued our hostages,’ Mr Hagari said in a televised statement.

‘The message this morning to Hamas is clear: we are determined to bring back home all the hostages.’

Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said: ‘I have recently returned from the command and control center following the operation to rescue four hostages from Gaza. 

‘This is one of the most heroic and extraordinary operations I have witnessed over the course of 47 years serving in Israel’s defense establishment. IDF, ISA and Special Forces, as well as the forces who supported [those in the field] have conducted an unprecedented operation – daring in nature, planned brilliantly and executed in an extraordinary fashion. 

‘The various security agencies cooperated closely – the IDF, ISA and Special Forces – acting as one single unit.

‘Our troops showed so much courage – operating under heavy fire in the most complex [urban environment in Gaza].

‘I do not remember having completed operations of this kind – at this intensity and with this level of cooperation and success.

‘I would like to commend and thank those leading the IDF, ISA and Yamam (Special Forces). We will do everything possible to return all the hostages home.’

The Israel police force said in a statement: ‘The Israel Police and the Border Police announce with great sorrow and grief the death of the late officer Arnon Zmora… who was mortally wounded in the operation to return the hostages this morning in Gaza’. 

A Hamas official said Israel’s freeing of four hostages after nine months was ‘a sign of failure not an achievement’, according to Reuters. 

The terrorist organisation said dozens of people, including children, were killed and injured in the operation. 

Around 1,200 people were killed in Israeli during the Hamas attack and around 250 people were taken hostage. 

More than 100 hostages were released during a ceasefire in November in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israel. 

Among the hostages was Andrey Kozlov, 27, a Russian who moved to Israel in 2022. He had been working as a security guard at the Nova festival when he was kidnapped. 

Almog Meir, 21, tried to flee the festival, but he and a friend only managed to drive a short distance in the friend’s car before being forced to stop. He phoned his mother during the attack.

Shlomi Ziv, 40, was part of the security detail at the festival and managed to call his sisters as the attack unfolded, according to an interview with The Times of Israel. He phoned his sisters during the attack, telling them he did not want them to worry.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday welcomed the return of four Israeli hostages rescued alive in Gaza.

Speaking at a news conference with French President Emmanuel Macon, Biden said he joined his host in welcoming the return of the hostages and vowed, ‘We won’t stop working until all the hostages come home and a ceasefire is reached’.

Meanwhile Noa Argamani returned to the arms of her father today after 245 days spent in dire captivity in the beleaguered Gaza Strip.

Noa, who was taken hostage by Hamas on the back of a motorcycle on October 7, was among four hostages rescued in a dramatic firefight with IDF forces earlier today.

Emotional scenes showed Noa, 26, reunited with her father on his birthday – the first time in more than half a year that they had seen each other since her capture from the Supernova Music Festival.

Video showed Noa reintegrating back into civilian life, pictured hugging her father Yakov – and calling with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express her relief.

Noa will now hope to be able to see her mother, Liora Argamani, who has repeatedly shared her prayers to see her daughter again since her diagnosis with stage 4 cancer.

The other rescued hostages, who were captured by Hamas from the Nova music festival in October, were named as Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40.

The images of Noa, a Chinese-born Israeli citizen, being kidnapped on the back of a motorcycle became symbolic of the horrors faced by civilians at the festival and across southern Israel when the violence erupted. 

A video of Noa receiving a telephone call from Israeli President Isaac Herzog was distributed by his office. ‘I am so happy to be here. Thank you for everything, thank you for this moment,’ said a smiling Argamani, sitting with her father in a hospital room.

In another video, speaking on the phone with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Noa said, ‘I am very moved. I haven’t heard Hebrew for so long.’

She was kidnapped along with her boyfriend Avinatan Or from the Supernova festival on the morning of October 7. Her boyfriend is still believed to remain in captivity. 

In a statement, the IDF said: ‘The hostages were rescued by the IDF, ISA and ‘Yamam’ forces from two separate locations in the heart of Nuseirat. 

‘They are in good medical condition and have been transferred to the ‘Sheba’ Tel-HaShomer Medical Centre for further medical examinations.

‘The security forces will continue to make every effort to bring the hostages home.’

The rare rescue comes eight months into war with Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on X: ‘Noa, Almog, Andrey and Shlomi – we are overjoyed to have you home.’

The Hostages Families Forum Headquarters – a volunteer-based organisation set up to help bring hostages home – called the recovery of the four hostages ‘a miraculous triumph’, and called on Israel’s government to bring home those still being held.

They said in a statement: ‘The heroic operation by the IDF that freed and brought home Noa Argamani, Shlomi Ziv, Andrey Kozlov, and Almog Meir Jan is a miraculous triumph. Now, with the joy that is washing over Israel, the Israeli government must remember its commitment to bring back all 120 hostages still held by Hamas – the living for rehabilitation, the murdered for burial.

‘We continue to call upon the international community to apply the necessary pressure on Hamas to accept the proposed deal and release the other 120 hostages held in captivity; every day there is a day too far.’

After Noa was captured in October, she later appeared in a chilling hostage video in January, speaking to camera alongside fellow captives Yossi Sharabi, 53, and Itai Svirsky, 38. The two men were later reported to have been killed, with Noa forced to announce their deaths. 

Hamas also published a ‘psychological terror’ video of what was believed to be the voice of Noa Argamani on May 31.

It sparked outcry from her family and campaigners who have called for the government to bring her and the other hostages in Gaza home. 

The voice identified as Noa can be heard saying: ‘I am imprisoned with Al-Qassam Brigades [the armed wing of Hamas].

‘I have been in captivity for more than 237 days and do not know till when.

‘I say to the people of Israel: Have you become government partners with Netanyahu, Gallant and Gantz? Will my fate together with my colleagues be like Ron Arad’s fate?’

Ron Arad was an Israeli airman who bailed out of his plane during a mission over southern Lebanon in 1986 and was taken hostage. Israel has tried to locate him for decades but he is now presumed dead.

The Argamani Family initially released a statement via the Hostages & Missing Families Forum shortly after the video began circulating asking that it not be broadcast.

But soon after, the forum provided the following statement, allowing the publication of the video with the family’s approval.

‘After assessing the situation and receiving additional information, the Argamani family has approved the use of a video in which Noa Argamani was heard while being held hostage by Hamas,’ it said.

‘Alongside Noa’s voice, drawings are shown, which the family believes to be scribbles that Noa has drawn.’

The forum statement continued, saying, ‘125 men and women have been held hostage by Hamas for 238 days. The Israeli government must hear the call and act decisively, without the need for any propaganda video from Hamas, to swiftly reach a deal to bring the hostages home!’

Noa’s mother Liora Argamani has stage 4 brain cancer and has repeatedly expressed her desire to see her daughter again.

Late last year, the 61-year-old made a last ditch plea to US President Joe Biden begging him for the opportunity to ‘hug’ her daughter ‘one last time’ before she dies.

She said: ‘I am terminally ill with Stage 4 brain cancer.

‘All that’s running through my mind before I part ways with my family forever is the chance to hug my daughter, my only child, one last time

‘My daughter Noa is a contagiously happy and resilient young woman.

‘She loves to dance, loves music, loves being with her friends and family.’

In March, she made another please to the President, saying in a video message: ‘My heart really hurts. On one hand it’s physical, it’s not working the way it should. One the other hand, because my daughter is a hostage.

‘Since the kidnapping, when I see her look in this picture, it chokes me up.

‘How beautiful she is, how amazing she is. I want to see [my daughter] one more time. Talk to her one more time,’ she pleaded.

‘I am asking you President Joe Biden, I don’t have a lot of time left in this world. It may be my last wish, I am really begging you.’ 

The young woman was among more than 100 people who are believed to still be being held hostage in Gaza. She is one of just 19 women that are still being held by the terror group.

Some of the survivors who have been released from Gaza during the hostage exchange and ceasefire deal in November have described being tortured, sexually assaulted and starved in captivity.

Meanwhile earlier today the military said in a separate statement that forces were ‘targeting terrorist infrastructure in the area of Nuseirat’.

A Gaza hospital said Israeli strikes in central areas of the territory, including in Nuseirat camp, killed at least 15 people on Saturday.

‘Intense Israeli air strikes in central governorate left at least 15 martyrs and tens wounded who have been brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital,’ the spokesman for the facility, doctor Khalil al-Dakran, told AFP.

Dakran said the casualties had come from in and around Nuseirat camp as well as Deir al-Balah, where the hospital is located.

Hamas said in a separate statement: ‘There are dozens of bodies of martyrs and wounded lying on the ground, in the streets, and in safe rooms.’

The group added that Israeli forces were engaged in a ‘brutal and savage aggression on Nuseirat camp’.

AFPTV video showed thick plumes of smoke billowing into the sky from several buildings in Nuseirat.

Other footage posted online showed Kozlov and Meir Jan arriving in Israel and beachgoers erupting into cheers in Tel Aviv after a lifeguard announced the four had been rescued.

In recent weeks the military has carried out intense air and ground assaults in and around Nuseirat.

On Thursday, the military struck a school turned shelter run by the UN agency for supporting Palestinian refugees, also known as UNRWA, which the Al-Aqsa hospital said had killed 37 people.

The Israeli military acknowledged it conducted the strike in the Nuseirat refugee camp that targeted the UN school, saying it killed 17 ‘terrorists’ there.

In February, another rescue mission freed two hostages, but the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said heavy air strikes that accompanied that mission killed around 100 people in Rafah, southern Gaza.