On 8 June 2024, the Israel Defense Forces rescued four hostages from the Nuseirat refugee camp, and, during the operation, killed at least 276 Palestinians and injured over 698. Due to the high death toll, some sources have referred to the operation as a massacre, and one of the largest massacres of the Gaza war.
During the operation, the Israeli military called in an intense air, sea, and ground attack. The operation successfully recovered four hostages taken during the October 7 attacks – Noa Argamani, Shlomi Ziv, Almog Meir Jan, and Andrey Kozlov—from two multi-story residential apartment buildings in Nuseirat, who were held there by Hamas. The operation also killed at least 276 Palestinians, including 64 children and 57 women, with at least 698 people reported injured, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. One Israeli officer was seriously injured and later died from his injuries. According to Hamas, Israel also killed three hostages during the operation, including one who was a dual Israeli-American citizen, during the operation. This was denied by Israel.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described the events as a "bloodbath." The OHCHR said that both Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups may have committed war crimes.
Background
The Nuseirat refugee camp was established in the Gaza Strip after the Palestinians were expelled or fled from Israel during the 1948 Palestine war. Israel began its occupation of the Gaza Strip in 1967, and since 2007, the area has been under Israeli air and naval blockade. On 7 October 2023, the Qassam Brigades (the militant wing of the Hamas party) launched an attack on Israel. As part of the attack, in which other Palestinian militant groups were also involved, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian militant groups kidnapped 251 Israeli civilians and soldiers. This attack led to the Gaza war.
The Nuseirat refugee camp is a long-standing UNRWA refugee camp located in the middle of the Gaza Strip, in Deir al-Balah. The camp has been repeatedly bombed during the Israel-Hamas war, with over a hundred Palestinians killed in the attacks. The most recent attack on the camp occurred only days before the rescue operation, with IDF forces striking the UNRWA school in the camp, killing at least 33 people. The deceased classification are contested with Gaza sources reporting a number of women and children were in the death toll, while the IDF said the deceased included Hamas Nukhba and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants.
This operation was the third known successful hostage rescue carried out by the IDF since the start of the war. IDF Corporal Ori Megidish was rescued in October 2023 from the northern part of the Gaza Strip, and two male hostages were rescued in February 2024 from southern Rafah. Additionally, a number of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners were exchanged in 2023.
Hostages
All four hostages rescued had been abducted from the Re'im music festival, and were identified as Noa Argamani (26-years-old), Almog Meir Jan (22-years-old), Andrey Kozlov (27-years-old), and Shlomi Ziv (41-years-old). Both Argamani and Meir Jan were festival goers while Kozlov, a recent immigrant from Russia, and Ziv had been employed as security guards for the festival.
Argamani was shown in one of the initial videos released by Hamas documenting the massacre. She was seen being taken away on a motorcycle while yelling, "Don't kill me!" Her arms are outstretched towards her boyfriend, Avinatan Or, who was also being kidnapped. This footage became emblematic of the hostage crisis, leading to Argamani being described as "the face of the Nova music festival hostages." Argamani's family had indications that she was alive, as she appeared in a Hamas video released in January 2024.
The abductees had suffered from malnutrition in captivity and were often beaten. The three male hostages, Shlomi Ziv, Almog Meir Jan, and Andrey Kozlov reported that they had gone through physical and psychological abuse while in Hamas captivity. Reports alleged that they were confined to a single dark room without any contact with the outside world for six months, and claimed that they faced severe punishments for non-compliance, such as being locked in a small bathroom or buried under blankets in intense heat. The doctor in charge of treatment for the rescued hostages said they were beaten and showed signs of malnutrition due to a lack of adequate food while in captivity. Itai Pesach at the Sheba Medical Centre who treated the three male hostages, stated that they suffered from severe trauma and had muscle atrophy due to malnutrition.
Argamani said she had been held in four different apartments during her eight months in captivity and that in the last location, the family made her wash their dishes. Ynet reported that she also cooked at times with basic ingredients she was provided.
The Qassam Brigades (the militant wing of the Hamas movement) claimed that three other hostages were killed as a result of the raid. They did not name any of them, or show photographs, but they claimed that one of the three was a US citizen and released a short video with text in Arabic, Hebrew, and English. The video depicted three unidentifiable corpses with their faces obscured by censor bars. The Brigades did not give details of how the hostages had died, but said they were killed by the Israeli military.
"In exchange for them, your own army killed 3 of your own captives in the same attack; one of them holds a USA citizenship" - Qassam Brigades, 9 June 2024.
Rescue
The IDF said that they worked with Shin Bet and Israeli police to free the four Israeli hostages. It was also later reported that the operation was aided by intelligence support from the United States and the United Kingdom. The operation was planned for several weeks, and was carried out after an intelligence opportunity arose. Some of the special forces members entered the refugee camp in a vehicle with a mattress on top, posing as Palestinian refugees fleeing Rafah per Saudi reporters. They reportedly told locals that they were escaping the Israeli assault on Rafah, while other Palestinian locals alleged that other forces entered in humanitarian trucks. However, a senior official in the Biden administration stated that the Israeli forces did not use an aid truck.
The operation began at about 11 a.m., with the Yamam and Shin Bet officers raiding two multi-story buildings about 200 meters apart, in the center of Nusseirat, where the hostages were reportedly held in two family homes. During captivity the hostages were held in a civilian environment, guarded by armed militants. The female hostage, Argamani, was reportedly held separately from the three male hostages, who had been reportedly held together throughout their eight-month captivity. None of them were held in the Hamas tunnel network.
The IDF stated that, at the time of the rescue, the three male hostages were being held in the family home of Ahmed Al-Jamal, a physician. His son Abdullah Al-Jamal, a freelance journalist, was also in the household. Ramy Abdu, chairman of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, reported that Ahmed Al-Jamal, Abdullah Al-Jamal, and the latter's wife were all killed after Israeli forces stormed the home by ladder. Al Jazeera disputed IDF allegations that Abdullah Al-Jamal had been one of its journalists, stating that he had contributed to an opinion piece published on its website but had no other involvement with the network. The Palestine Chronicle, a nonprofit online publication that Abdullah Al-Jamal had contributed to in the past, reported inconsistencies in the Israeli narrative. An investigation by The Wall Street Journal reported that the Al-Jamal family had been known for its close ties with and support of Hamas. Locals criticized Hamas for placing hostages in civilian areas.
During the extraction of the three male hostages, a major gun battle erupted, causing the mortal wounding of the commander of the Yamam rescue team for that building. During the operation, the Southern Command and the Air Force said they exchanged fire with Hamas militants. An IDF spokesman said its forces were fired upon inside buildings and during their withdrawal from Gaza. The three male hostages were extracted from the refugee camp, but the extraction vehicle became stuck and came under fire, leading additional forces to come to their rescue. They were then brought to a landing zone on the coast and airlifted into Israel. The abductees were not injured and were transferred to Sheba Medical Center.
A witness in the camp reported a "crazy bombardment" occurred suddenly, while another stated that the strike happened when people were sleeping. Witnesses reported that entire residential blocks were wiped out. A witness who had been in the marketplace stated that about 150 rockets fell at and around the market place in less than 10 minutes. Per a resident and paramedic in the camp, the assault felt like a "horror movie" and that Israeli drones and warplanes fired randomly throughout the night at peoples homes and those who tried to flee the area. Videos were posted to social media, reportedly showing corpses with entrails spilling out lying on blood-stained streets after the attack, although Reuters was unable to immediately verify the footage. Additional footage showed Palestinians in the market area diving for cover as missiles flew in and gunfire erupted.
The US denied that its Gaza floating pier (intended for the delivery of aid into Gaza) was used in the operation. The denial followed the release of imagery showing the landing zone used for the air evacuation immediately south along the coast from the pier, with the U.S. facility clearly visible in the near background.
Massacre
Airstrikes
According to reports, "at least one of the [escape] vehicles" for ferrying the three male rescued hostages broke down, requiring additional forces to escape. Israeli forces henceforth called for additional support, "from the air, from the sea, and on the ground."
At 11:27 a.m., a strike occurred near the building from which the three male hostages were rescued. Subsequently, the building was demolished by another strike. Shortly before noon, another strike demolished the building where Noa Argamani had been held captive. Eyal Shahtout, a resident of a neighboring building, informed The New York Times that his home was hit, resulting in many of his family members being buried under the debris. 18 of his family members were killed, including his wife, four children, and two grandchildren. The Israeli military did not provide an explanation for why the home was targeted. To the south of the hostage sites, a market was also struck. At 11:45 a.m., plumes of smoke were visible in downtown Nuseirat.
Scores of local people, including children, were killed. According to a statement from Doctors without Borders, which works nearby at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, "there have been back-to-back mass casualties as densely populated areas are bombed. It's way beyond what anyone could deal with in a functional hospital, let alone with the scarce resources we have here." The Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat was also overwhelmed with casualties, "including many children laid out in the corridors". The strikes destroyed "apartment buildings throughout" [the] "camp, according to witnesses and video footage". The UN human rights office said that both Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups may have committed war crimes, citing potential "violations of rules of proportionality, distinction and precaution" in the case of the former and "holding hostages in densely populated areas" for the latter.
Casualties
The Gaza Health Ministry reported that 274 Palestinians were killed during the operation with around 700 wounded. The death toll included 64 children and 57 women. By contrast the IDF stated the number of casualties from the operation was “under 100.” Kenneth Roth writes that 44% of those killed were women and children, and given that the men were killed in the nearby market, it is likely that large number of the male casualties were civilians too.
Al-Aqsa hospital received 109 bodies of Palestinians, including 11 women and 23 children, along with "more than 100 wounded". Tanya Haj-Hassan, a paediatric intensive care doctor with Doctors Without Borders working at the hospital, described the scene as a "complete bloodbath." Another 100 people killed in the attacks were taken to al-Awda hospital. It is not known how many combatants are included in these counts. Ziad, a paramedic and resident of Nuseirat and Abu Obaida, a spokesperson for al-Qassam Brigades referred to the attack as a massacre, as did top EU diplomat Josep Borrell; the UN’s aid chief described "in graphic detail" scenes of "shredded bodies on the ground".