Hamas Claims 210 Palestinians Killed In Gaza From Where Hostages Rescued, Netanyahu Says ‘Won’t Surrender’

Hamas’s government media office said at least 210 people were killed on Saturday in Israeli attacks on a central Gaza camp from which four hostages were rescued.

Israel’s army earlier named the rescued hostages as Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv.

“The number of victims from the Israeli occupation’s massacre in the Nuseirat camp has risen to 210 martyrs and more than 400 wounded,” the office said in a statement.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Saturday that the “resistance will continue” after deadly fighting in a central Gaza refugee camp where Israel had mounted a hostage rescue operation.

“Our people will not surrender, and the resistance will continue to defend our rights in the face of this criminal enemy,” Haniyeh said in a statement, after the Hamas-run government media office reported 210 people killed in Nuseirat camp.

Bodies of at least 55 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Al-Nuseirat and other areas in central Gaza, and dozens wounded in the attacks, arrived on Saturday at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave said.

Meanwhile, Israeli police announced Saturday the death of an officer wounded earlier in the day during an 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.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “Israel does not surrender to terrorism” after troops on Saturday rescued four hostages alive who were held by militants in the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu said that his security forces “have proven that Israel does not surrender to terrorism”.

All four were kidnapped by Hamas militants from the Nova music festival on October 7, the military said in a statement.

The four had been taken to hospital and were in “good medical condition”, it added.

Speaking after the operation in the situation room Netanyahu said: “We will not let go until we complete the mission and return all our hostages home — both the living and the dead.”

(with inputs from AFP and Reuters)