‘We’ve come to take you home’: Noa Argamani’s 245 days of captivity are finally over
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The plight of an Israeli woman who spent 245 days held hostage by Hamas ended on Saturday with the words “It’s the IDF. We’ve come to take you home.”
Noa Argamani, who was ripped away from the Nova music festival by Hamas terrorists on Oct 7 and taken into Gaza on the back of a motorcycle was rescued on Saturday during a daring daytime raid by Israeli special forces along with three other captives.
The three other hostages, all of whom were kidnapped at the music festival, are Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrey Kozlov, 27 and Shlomi Ziv, 41. The four hostages were sent to hospital for an evaluation and were said to be in good health.
“Today is my birthday, and what a present I received...there’s no army like this in the world,” an elated Yaakov Argamani, Noa’s father, said as he was reunited with her.
Ms Argamani herself said of the moment that the soldiers rescued her: “There was a knock on the door. A voice said, ‘It’s the IDF. We’ve come to take you home.’”
Israeli forces meticulously prepared for the operation by training in replicas of the two houses in the central Gaza Strip where Hamas had been keeping the hostages. The hostages were referred to as “diamonds” by operation commanders.
Israeli commandos had to simultaneously raid the two locations, which were 200 metres apart, to reduce the risk of hostages being killed once the attack started. It was described as being “like a surgical operation, like a brain operation.”
The hostages were reportedly kept in locked rooms in apartments which contained both families and armed guards. The raid on Ms Argamani’s building is said to have come as a complete surprise to Hamas but there was crossfire in the second building.
Arnon Zmora, an Israeli officer was killed during the operation. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister said the rescue would be known as “operation Arnon” after the late father of two.
Ms Argamani is now due to be reunited with her Chinese-Israeli mother, who is suffering from terminal brain cancer.
Her boyfriend, Avinatan Or, is understood to still be held in Hamas captivity. The pair had been captured at the same time at the music festival.
She spoke over the phone with Mr Netanyahu on Saturday from the hospital where she was being assessed, telling him: “I am very moved. I haven’t heard Hebrew for so long.” She also spoke with Isaac Herzog, the president of Israel.
Mr Netanyahu has suggested that he will launch further operations into Gaza to bring the hostages home. “We are committed to do so in the future as well. We will not let up until we complete the mission and return home all the hostages, both those alive and dead,” he said.
Israeli media reports said the operation had been approved on Thursday evening, when a war cabinet and security cabinet meeting were cancelled to make time for preparing the operation. Mr Netanyahu watched it unfold from inside a Shin Bet security services war room.
Israeli military officials said their intelligence officers worked for weeks laying the groundwork for the operation, which involved hundreds of Israeli troops.
World leaders including Joe Biden, the US president, Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, and Emmauel Macron, French president, praised the rescue.
A senior Hamas official claimed the operation was a Pyrrhic victory for Israel, stating that “regaining four captives after nine months of fighting is a sign of failure not an achievement”.
At least 210 Palestinians were killed in Gaza on Saturday, many in Nuseirat where the hostages were being held, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry.
Daniel Hagari, the IDF’s commanding officer, said the force was aware of about 100 Palestinian casualties but did not yet know how many were terrorists. He accused Hamas of endangering civilians by hiding the hostages within the population and shooting at the Israeli forces as they rescued them.
Dozens of bodies from the Nuseirat and Deir al-Balah areas were brought to overwhelmed hospitals.
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, described Israeli attacks in Nuseirat as a “bloody massacre” and called for an emergency UN security council session.
Videos on social media, that appeared to be from Nuseirat but could not be immediately verified, showed severely injured men, women and children lying on blood-soaked hospital floors or being carried limp into the emergency room where infants wailed in distress.
The al-Aqsa Martyrs’ hospital issued an urgent call for medical assistance to handle the mass casualty event and appealed for blood donations.
08:45 PM BST
That’s all for today
Thanks for following our live coverage as Israeli rescued four of its hostages from Gaza. This live blog is now closed.
08:45 PM BST
Pictured: Noa Argamani is rescued from Gaza by IDF helicopter
08:23 PM BST
Protesters call for release of hostages outside Netanyahu’s home
Thousands of Israelis are holding protests across the country, calling on the government to secure the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza.
In Tel Aviv, demonstrators held signs that read “Bring them back” at a spot that has become known locally as “Hostages Square”.
Haaretz, the Israeli newspaper, reported that Paris Square in Jerusalem - near the residence of the prime minister - had been blocked off by protesters.
07:57 PM BST
Sunak: Return of hostages is heartwarming
Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, has said it is “heartwarming” to see the Israeli hostages returned to their families after an “unimaginable ordeal”.
“We will continue to strive towards an end to the fighting as well as safety and security for all,” he wrote on social media.
It is a huge relief to see hostages returned after their unimaginable ordeal and heartwarming to see the pictures of them reunited with their families.
We will continue to strive towards an end to the fighting as well as safety and security for all. https://t.co/Ylb7OD3xXO— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) June 8, 2024
07:46 PM BST
Cameron calls for release of all Israeli hostages
Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, has welcome the return of the Israeli hostages and called for those remaining in Gaza to be released.
He wrote on social media: “News of the rescue of four hostages will be a huge relief to their families.
“My thoughts also with families of those still captive, and all the innocent lives affected by the conflict. We must secure the release of all hostages and end the fighting through a ceasefire deal.”
News of the rescue of four hostages will be a huge relief to their families. My thoughts also with families of those still captive, and all the innocent lives affected by the conflict. We must secure the release of all hostages and end the fighting through a ceasefire deal.
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) June 8, 2024
07:17 PM BST
Hostage families thank IDF after four rescued in ‘daring’ raid
The families of the four rescued hostages have thanked the security forces for freeing their loved ones in a complex special daytime operation in central Gaza.
Those rescued were Noa Argamani, 25, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40.
Yaakov Argamani, Ms Argamani’s father, thanked the IDF and, speaking about the other hostages, said: “We must do everything, and as soon as possible to bring them home.” “Today is my birthday, and what a present I received,” he added.
Jennifer Master, Mr Kozlov’s partner, thanked the army, while his aunt Anna said: “There’s a lot of happiness today, a lot of tears.”
Mr Jan’s mother Orit said: “Almog asked to say: ‘We have a strong nation, thanks very much. I support the soldiers, I hope all the hostages come home safely’.”
Israel believes that 116 of the approximately 250 hostages abducted by militants are left in the Palestinian enclave, at least 40 of whom have been declared dead in absentia by authorities.
The families also expressed their condolences over the death of counter-terrorism officer Arnon Zamora, 36, who died due to injuries sustained during the mission.
06:50 PM BST
Hamas claims Palestinians killed during rescue mission
Gaza’s Hamas-run government media office has claimed that at least 210 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli operation to rescue the hostages.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the Israeli military, said the rescue mission took place in a residential neighbourhood in Nuseirat, with Hamas keeping the hostages in two separate apartment blocks.
Israel’s forces came under intense fire during the assault and responded by firing “from the air and from the street”, he told reporters.
He added: “We know about under 100 [Palestinian] casualties. I don’t know how many from them are terrorists.”
06:28 PM BST
Watch: Israel rescues four hostages in ‘daring’ raid
06:16 PM BST
Hamas: ‘Devastating’ consequences for remaining hostages
Hamas has claimed that Israel killed a number of hostages while mounting a rescue operation to save Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv.
“The enemy was able... to free some of its prisoners, but at the same time it killed some of them during the operation,” a spokesman for the group’s armed wing said.
He added: “The operation will pose a great danger to the enemy prisoners and will have a devastating impact on their conditions and lives.”
05:50 PM BST
Mother of rescued hostage will ‘continue the struggle’
Orit Jan, the mother of Almog Meir Jan, pledged to “continue the struggle” until all the hostages in Gaza were returned to their families.
“We do not forget the hostages who are still in Gaza, and we will continue the struggle until they all return, the living and the killed,” she said.
05:38 PM BST
Watch: Netanyahu meets rescued hostages
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has met with rescued hostages and their families at Sheba Hospital near Tel Aviv.
At a news conference afterwards, he said that it was the birthday of Noa Argamani’s father, Yaakov, who called the return of his daughter “the best gift I could ever expect”.
Mr Netanyahu also revealed that Andrey Kozlov, another hostage, had kept a diary during his months of captivity.
“Every day, he would write one line. Every day is a gift,” he said.
05:24 PM BST
Colombia’s president orders halt of coal exports to Israel
Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s president, said the country will suspend coal exports to Israel.
In a post on social media platform X, he said the exports would be halted “until the genocide is stopped”.
05:23 PM BST
Israeli hostage Noa Argamani to be reunited with dying mother
Noa Argamani, the 25-year-old hostage who was rescued from Gaza on Saturday, is soon to be reunited with her terminally ill mother.
Ms Argamani was kidnapped along with her boyfriend Avinatan Or from the Supernova festival on the morning of Oct 7, and became one of the faces of the hostage crisis when footage of her abduction by two men on a motorbike emerged online. In the footage, she shouts: “Don’t kill me!”
Earlier this year, her 61-year-old mother Liora Argamani, who has stage four brain cancer, pleaded with world leaders to help bring home her daughter.
“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’m really begging you. Please help me,” she said in March.
Ms Argamani has already reunited with her father, and is expected to meet her mother shortly.
04:57 PM BST
Rescued hostage Shlomi Ziv is reuinted with his loved ones
04:44 PM BST
Israeli strike reported to have killed two people in southern Lebanon
An Israeli air strike on the outskirts of Aitaroun in southern Lebanon killed two people, Lebanese state news agency NNA reported on Saturday.
Israel’s IDF said in a statement that its soldiers had identified a Hezbollah militant in the area of Aitaroun and shortly afterward an Israeli aircraft had struck the individual.
Israeli forces launched two missiles targeting a cafe at a petrol station which resulted in major damage to the shop, the station and the surrounding area, the NNA report said.
04:33 PM BST
Palestinian president calls for emergency UN security council session on ‘bloody massacre’
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has called for an emergency UN Security Council session on “the bloody massacre that was carried out by the Israeli forces” at the al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, official news agency WAFA reported on Saturday.
04:32 PM BST
Netanyahu speaks to rescued hostage Noa Argamani
03:56 PM BST
Footage shows the take-off of the helicopter with three of the rescued hostages from the Gaza Strip
03:52 PM BST
US national security advisor issues statement
Jake Sullivan, the US national security advisor, has issued a statement on the Israeli hostage rescue operation. He said:
Today, Israeli security forces conducted a successful operation to rescue four hostages from the grips of Hamas in Gaza. All four were taken from the Nova Music Festival on October 7, and Hamas filmed the horrific abduction of Ms Argamani for the world to see. Now they are safe and reunited with their families. We commend the work of the Israeli security services that conducted this daring operation.
The United States is supporting all efforts to secure the release of hostages still held by Hamas, including American citizens. This includes through ongoing negotiations or other means. The hostage release and ceasefire deal that is now on the table would secure the release of all the remaining hostages together with security assurances for Israel and relief for the innocent civilians in Gaza. This deal has the full backing of the United States and has been endorsed by countries from around the world, including the G7, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, UAE, and Qatar, as well as the sixteen countries with their citizens still being held by Hamas. They all must be released – now.
03:44 PM BST
Rescued hostage Almog Meir Jan reunites with his family
Hamas hostage Almog Meir Jan, 21, is one of the four rescued by the IDF from central Gaza. He is reportedly in good condition, according to initial medical assessments.
03:36 PM BST
Details of the hostage rescue operation from IDF briefing
The hostages were called “diamonds” for the operation.
The Israeli forces practiced for the operation using models of the two houses where they were being held. The houses, which were 200m apart, had to be raided simultaneously “like a surgical operation, like a brain operation,” to reduce the risk of the hostages being killed in either one.
The hostages were being held in locked rooms in apartments containing both families and armed guards. The raid on Noa Argamani’s building came as a complete surprise but there was crossfire in the second building with the three men.
03:30 PM BST
Biden reacts to hostage rescue news
US president Joe Biden welcomed the return of four Israeli hostages rescued alive in Gaza.
He said: “I would like to welcome the safe rescue of hostages that were returned to their families in Israel. We won’t stop working until all the hostages come home and a ceasefire is reached. That is essential.”
03:28 PM BST
Families hail ‘miraculous triumph’ as four Israeli hostages rescued
Israel hostage families have hailed the rescue of four captives as a “miraculous triumph”.
Noa Argamani, 25, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40, were rescued in a complex special daytime operation in the heart of Nuseirat in central Gaza on Saturday. All four were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists at the Nova music festival on Oct 7 last year.
“The heroic operation by the that freed and brought home Noa Argamani, Shlomi Ziv, Andrey Kozlov, and Almog Meir Jan is a miraculous triumph,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement, adding it continued to call on the international community to exert pressure on Hamas to release other hostages.
03:18 PM BST
Israel says forces freed Gaza hostages under heavy fire
Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant said that special forces operated under heavy fire and in a complex urban environment when rescuing the four hostages from Hamas.
“Our troops showed so much courage – operating under heavy fire in the most complex urban environment in Gaza,” Mr Gallant said in a statement from his office.
“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,” he said.
02:58 PM BST
Israeli officer who died during rescue named
Arnon Zamora, a commander of the elite counter terrorism unit, has been named as the Israeli soldier who died as a result of his injuries during the rescue operation.
Zamora, aged 36 and a father of two, was taken to a hospital in Israel in critical condition, where his death was declared a short while later.
02:53 PM BST
Turkey, Egypt and Iran demand full Palestinian membership of UN
An alliance including Turkey, Egypt and Iran have demanded full Palestinian membership of the United Nations and greater international pressure on Israel amid the Gaza war.
The D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation, which also includes Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria and Pakistan, called for an immediate ceasefire in the devastated Palestinian territory, where Israel has been battling Hamas militants for more than eight months.
Foreign ministers from the group meeting in Istanbul called on the United States to lift its veto on full Palestinian UN membership and on all countries to “exert diplomatic, political, economic and legal pressure” on Israel.
They also urged states to ensure Israel complies with the International Court of Justice’s decisions, withdraws from the southern Rafah governorate and guarantees the safe entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Denouncing an “ongoing genocide and grave violations of international law”, the group called on states to contribute to and join legal proceedings against Israel at international courts.
The eight countries also demanded an end to arms and ammunition deliveries to Israel and that all measures be taken to protect Palestinian civilians, rejecting any attempted forced displacement.
02:32 PM BST
Germany’s Scholz says rescue of four hostages ‘important sign of hope’
Israel’s rescue of four hostages alive in the Gaza Strip is an “important sign of hope,” German chancellor Olaf Scholz said.
“An important sign of hope – in particular for the numerous Israeli families who continue to fear for those close to them. Four hostages are now free,” Mr Scholz said on X, formerly Twitter.
02:21 PM BST
One Israeli soldier died in rescue operation
Israeli police have announced the death of an officer wounded earlier in the day during the operation to rescue four hostages from the Gaza Strip.
“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,” the force said in a statement.
02:02 PM BST
Netanyahu says Israel does not give into terror
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel does not give into terrorism and that it is operating “creatively and bravely” to bring home the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
“We are committed to do so in the future as well. We will not let up until we complete the mission and return home all the hostages – both those alive and dead,” Mr Netanyahu said.
01:58 PM BST
Rescued hostage Noa Argamani reunites with family in hospital
Source: Reuters
01:39 PM BST
Footage of one rescued hostage being extracted from the Gaza Strip
01:20 PM BST
Death toll in Gaza at 36,801, according to Hamas-run health ministry
At least 36,801 Palestinians have been killed and more than 83,680 have been injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said in a statement on Saturday.
More than 70 Palestinians were killed and 150 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.
01:10 PM BST
Watch: Statement by IDF Spokesperson about hostage rescue
🔴Watch IDF Spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagari's statement regarding our operation to bring Noa, Almog, Andrey and Shlomi back home: pic.twitter.com/Tt2wtE9121
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 8, 2024
Credit: X / Social media
01:03 PM BST
Watch: Moment Almog Meir Jan’s family found out about his rescue
Credit: X / Social media
12:59 PM BST
Hamas calls hostage rescue a ‘failure’ of Israel
Senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, told Reuters that “regaining four captives after nine months of fighting is a sign of failure not an achievement.”
Israel cannot force its choices on Hamas and the group will accept no deal that does not achieve security for Palestinians, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Saturday in response to an Israeli military offensive in Gaza’s al-Nuseirat area.
12:55 PM BST
Watch: Cheers on Tel Aviv beache as lifeguards announce the rescue of four hostages
Credit: X / Social media
12:51 PM BST
Noa Argamani to reunite with dying mother
Noa Argamani will soon visit her terminally-ill mother at the hospital.
Earlier this year, Liora Argamani, who has stage four brain cancer, pleaded with world leaders to help bring home her daughter.
Her renewed appeal to see her daughter came as her health deteriorated: “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’m really begging you. Please help me,” she said in March.
12:50 PM BST
Israel’s war cabinet minister delays statement after hostage rescue
Israel’s centrist war cabinet minister Benny Gantz has delayed a statement he was due to give later on Saturday in which he was widely expected to announce his resignation from prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s emergency government.
Last month, Mr Gantz presented the conservative prime minister with a June 8 deadline to come up with a clear day-after strategy for Gaza.
But following news that Israeli forces had rescued four hostages alive from Gaza, the minister’s spokespeople said his statement would be postponed. They did not give a new time for the address, in which political commentators in leading Israeli newspapers said he was expected to announce his resignation.
The departure of Gantz’s centrist party would not pose an immediate threat to Mr Netanyahu’s governing coalition, which controls 64 of parliament’s 120 seats, but it could have a serious impact nonetheless.
12:43 PM BST
50 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on central Gaza
At least 50 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on Nuseirat and other areas in central Gaza, a health official in the Hamas-run enclave told Reuters on Saturday.
12:38 PM BST
Hundreds of Israeli troops took part in the hostage operation
Hundreds of Israeli troops took part in a special operation held under fire to rescue four hostages alive from Hamas captors in Gaza, Israel’s chief military spokesman has said.
The operation was weeks in the planning and one police officer was badly hurt, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a televised news conference.
The hostages were held in two houses in a residential neighbourhood of al-Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, according to Mr Hagari.
12:37 PM BST
Pictured: Hostages Almog Meir Jan and Andrey Kozlov are released
12:33 PM BST
Former hostages escorted off a helicopter by the IDF
Former hostages Andrey Kozlov (in red shorts) and Almog Meir Jan (in the black shirt) escorted off a helicopter by the IDF.
12:31 PM BST
More on the release of hostage Noa Argamani
A video of Noa Argamani 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 Ms Argamani, sitting with her father in a hospital room.
In another video, speaking on the phone with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ms Argamani said, “I am very moved. I haven’t heard Hebrew for so long.”
Earlier video of Ms Argamani reunited with her father showed her smiling and embracing him.
She was kidnapped along with her boyfriend Avinatan Or from the Supernova festival on the morning of Oct 7. Her boyfriend is still believed to remain in captivity.
Ms Argamani became one of the faces of the hostage crisis when footage of her abduction by two men on a motorbike emerged online. In the footage, she shouts: “Don’t kill me!”
12:24 PM BST
IDF statement on hostage rescue
“Noa Argamani (25), Almog Meir Jan (21), Andrey Kozlov (27), and Shlomi Ziv (40), were kidnapped by the Hamas terrorist organisation from the Nova music festival on October 7,” the IDF said in a statement, adding the four were in “good medical condition.”
“The hostages were rescued... from two separate locations in the heart of Nuseirat” in central Gaza, the military added.
12:22 PM BST
Hostage Noa Argamani meets her father after being freed by the IDF
12:20 PM BST
Gaza pier reconnected
The US-built pier designed to carry aid into Gaza by boat has been reconnected to the beach in the besieged territory after a section broke apart in storms and rough seas last month,
The section that connects to the beach in Gaza, the causeway, was rebuilt nearly two weeks after heavy storms damaged it and abruptly halted what had already been a troubled delivery route.
Food and other supplies will begin to flow soon, US Central Command said on Friday.
“Earlier this morning in Gaza, US forces successfully attached the temporary pier to the Gaza beach,” Vice Adm Brad Cooper, deputy commander of US Central Command, told reporters. “We expect to resume delivery of humanitarian assistance from the sea in the coming days.”
Vice Adm Cooper said operations at the reconnected pier will be ramped up soon with a goal to get 1 million pounds (500 tons) of food and other supplies moving through the pier into Gaza every two days.
