Israel kills over 200 Palestinians to save 4 captives; The United States would be involved in the operation – Mondoweiss

At least 210 Palestinians were killed and hundreds injured in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday, in what Israel is celebrating as a “heroic” military operation to rescue four Israeli captives held in Gaza.

Palestinian media reported intense shelling early in the afternoon local time in various areas of Nuseirat and Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Video footage from the main market of the Nuseirat refugee camp showed crowds of Palestinian civilians fleeing under the sound of heavy artillery fire.

Translation: A horrific scene shows the first moments of the (Israeli) occupation carrying out the Nuseirat massacre in the middle of the Gaza Strip.

Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif reported that Israeli forces “infiltrated” the Nuseirat refugee camp in trucks disguised as humanitarian aid trucks.

The Gaza government media office said in a statement that Israeli forces launched an “unprecedented brutal attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp”, directly targeting civilians, and that ambulances and civil defense teams were unable to reach the area and evacuate the wounded due to the intensity of the fire. The bombardment.

The media office added that by its count, at least 210 Palestinians were killed and around 400 others were injured during the Israeli operation.

Video footage posted on social media showed dozens of bodies of men, women and children lying in the streets of the Nuseirat region, as well as bloodied and injured civilians rushed to the Martyrs' Hospital from Al-Aqsa to Deir al-Balah.

Al Jazeera quoted Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan of Doctors Without Borders as saying that the emergency department at Al-Aqsa Hospital “is a complete bloodbath… It looks like a slaughterhouse.”

“The images and videos I received show patients lying everywhere in pools of blood… their limbs have been torn off,” she told Al Jazeera, adding: “This is what a massacre looks like.” »

As the death toll in the central Gaza Strip continued to rise, Israeli reports revealed that four Israeli captives were rescued during the operation and transferred to Israel. The four captives were identified as Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40. They were all reportedly taken on October 7 to the Nova Music festival in southern Israel, near the border with Gaza.

According to Israeli media, the four captives were found in good health and were transferred to a hospital in Israel where they were reunited with their families. A member of the Israeli special forces was killed in the attack.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari as saying that the captives were “rescued under fire and that during the operation the IDF attacked from the air, sea and sea.” land in the areas of Nuseirat and Deir al-Balah, in the center of the Gaza Strip. Band.”

Haaretz added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant approved the operation on Thursday evening. Netanyahu hailed the operation as “successful,” while Gallant reportedly described it as “one of the heroic operations he has witnessed in all his years in the defense establishment, according to Israeli media .

Families of Israeli prisoners held a press conference Saturday afternoon in response to the news. Relatives of the four captives rescued Saturday praised the Israeli army and government. Some relatives of prisoners still held in Gaza have demanded an end to the war and an exchange of prisoners in order to secure the release of those still held in Gaza.

On Saturday evening local time, Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida said that “the first to be injured by (the Israeli army) are its prisoners,” adding that while some of the captives were released during the operation, a number of other Israeli captives were reportedly killed. The Israeli government and military have not commented on reports that Israeli prisoners were killed during the operation.

There are reportedly 120 prisoners still held in the Gaza Strip, 43 of whom have been killed since October, many of whom are believed to have been killed by Israel's own forces.