(CNN) — Four hostages were freed in a special operation in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, the Israeli military said.
Noa Argamani, 25, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40, were rescued by Israeli military, intelligence and special forces from two separate locations in Nuseirat, this said. Saturday the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
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The four were kidnapped at the Nova music festival on October 7, according to the IDF.
“They are in good condition and have been transferred to ‘Sheba’ Tel-HaShomer Medical Center for further medical examinations,” the army added.
From left to right, Noah Argamani, Shlomi Ziv, Almog Meir Jan and Andrey Kozlov. Forum on hostages and missing families
Rescuing hostages taken during the October 7 Hamas attacks remains a major objective of the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.
Freed hostage Almog Meir Jan photographed on Saturday. Marko Djurica/Reuters
This is the third successful operation. IDF Corporal Ori Megidish was rescued in October last year in northern West Bank. In another operation on February 12 this year, Fernando Marman and Louis Har were rescued from southern Rafah.
A video showed Argamani hugging his father after his release.
She was one of the best-known remaining hostages and appeared in a series of Hamas propaganda videos released in January.
The first video showed clips of Argamani alongside two male hostages, Yossi Sharabi and Itai Svirsky. It ended with a caption that said: “Tomorrow we will inform you of your destination.”
A third and final video showed the bodies of Svirsky and Sharabi. It also showed Argamani saying that both men had been killed by an Israeli bombing raid, and their deaths were later confirmed by their hometown.
News of the hostage rescue came as the Israeli military said it was “striking terrorist infrastructure” in the Nuseirat area of central Gaza.
Intense Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling are also taking place in the nearby areas of al-Zawaideh and Deir al-Balah, where casualties have been reported.
Israel launched a new military operation in central Gaza earlier this week.
Who are the freed hostages?
The four were attending the Nova music festival near the Israel-Gaza border when Hamas took them captive in what many consider one of the darkest days in Israel’s history, according to hostage campaign group Hostage Families Forum. .
Almog Meir Jan, 22, is from the small town of Or Yehuda, on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. Meir Jan was due to start a new job at a technology company on October 8, according to a Forum press release. The group described him as a “polite” and “helpful” young man with a “broad, warm smile.”
Shlomi Ziv, 41, was working as a security guard at the Nova music festival when he was kidnapped on October 7. Ziv had been living in the local moshav or agricultural settlement for 17 years with his wife Miren. The Forum described him as an “older brother” type figure who is “always the first to help” those in need.
Andrey Kozlov, 27, lives in Rishon LeZion, a city eight kilometers south of Tel Aviv. He was also working as a security guard at the Nova festival on Oct. 7, according to the news release. He is a Russian citizen who immigrated to Israel a year ago. In January, a senior Russian diplomat, Mikhail Bogdanov, called for the release of Kozlov and two other Russian citizens also detained by Hamas.
Finally, Noa Argamani, 25, was released from captivity this Saturday. The young woman was studying Information Systems Management at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel. She quickly became a symbol of the October 7 attacks after video emerged of her being kidnapped by Hamas fighters on a motorcycle. Argamani’s boyfriend, Avinatan Or, who was also kidnapped from the festival, remains in Hamas captivity, according to the Forum. Argamani is a yoga and art enthusiast who likes to hike in her free time.
CNN’s Niamh Kennedy and Tamar Michaelis contributed to this report.
