(NationRise.com) – The Israeli military announced on February 11 that it freed two hostages during an operation where it launched a “wave of attacks” on the city of Rafah. Gaza’s health officials — who operate under the authority of the terrorist group Hamas — said that the attacks killed 67 Palestinians.
The raid was widely celebrated in numerous cities across Israel, which has been trying to liberate over 100 hostages still held by Hamas and some other terrorist groups operating in Gaza. Reports said that the operation brought down airstrikes on the southern city of Rafah, where nearly 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are currently sheltering.
Director of the All-Najjar Hospital, Dr. Marwan al-Hamas, said that women and children were killed in the attacks, and dozens were severely wounded. He added that many houses and two mosques were destroyed in the strikes carried out by Israeli tanks, ships, and warplanes, which lasted for more than an hour.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) said that the two hostages were freed and taken to the Sheba hospital in the Jewish state’s central region. The health center published a separate statement where it said that the two hostages were “in good condition.”
The IDF stated that the hostages were 70-year-old Louis Har and 60-year-old Fernando Simon Marman, who were kidnapped from the Nir Yitzhak kibbutz during the October 7 attacks from Hamas. The pair are Argentine-Israeli citizens who were abducted along with three other relatives whom Hamas freed in November 2023 as part of the temporary ceasefire deal with the Israeli government.
During a press conference, the Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said that the IDF conducted numerous attacks on Rafah during its operations, which he said started at 1:49 pm local time. He also told reporters that special forces freed the hostages after breaking into a building in the city, where the two of them were being held under guard by a Hamas terrorist in a second-floor apartment.
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