Israel says 2 hostages rescued in Rafah operation

Israel announced on Monday the rescue of two hostages in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where the health ministry said 52 Palestinians including children were killed in heavy overnight air strikes.

Israel is preparing for a ground incursion into the teeming city along the border with Egypt, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought refuge from fighting further north.

The precarious humanitarian situation in Rafah has prompted aid groups and foreign governments, including Israel’s key ally the United States, to express deep concern over the potentially disastrous consequences of expanding operations there.

Hamas has also warned that a ground offensive in Rafah would imperil any future releases of Israeli hostages taken during the October 7 attacks that sparked the war.

The Israeli military announced early Monday morning that two of those hostages had been rescued in a joint military, Shin Bet and police operation in Rafah after nearly 130 days in captivity.

In a statement, the army identified the two as Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70, saying they “were kidnapped by the Hamas terrorist organization on October 7th from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak”.

“They are both in good medical condition, and were transferred for medical examination at the Sheba Tel Hashomer hospital,” the statement added.

During the October 7 attacks, Palestinian militants seized about 250 hostages, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Israel says around 130 are still in Gaza, though 29 are thought to be dead.

Dozens of captives were released during a one-week truce in November that also saw the release of more than 200 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Since then, Netanyahu has faced mounting protests and even calls for early elections, with relatives of the hostages frustrated over the pace of the rescues.

Renewed talks for a pause in the fighting have been held in Cairo, with Hamas open to a fresh ceasefire, including more prisoner-hostage exchanges.

The group’s military wing on Sunday said two hostages had been killed and eight others seriously wounded in Israeli bombardment in recent days, a claim AFP was unable to independently verify.