US aided Israel in hostage rescue, official says (2024)

An American cell in Israel supported the efforts to rescue four Israeli hostages, working with Israeli forces on the operation, a US official told CNN.

CNN previously reported that Israel prepared for weeks for Saturday’s operation, with hundreds of personnel from the Israeli military, the domestic intelligence service and a police special unit involved.

The Israeli Prime Minister's Office released a voice recording in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was heard speaking to freed Israeli hostage Noa Argamani.

In the recording, Netanyahu tells Argamani he is glad she was rescued.

Argamani had become a symbol of the October 7 attacks after video emerged of her shouting and pleading from the seat of a motorbike as a group of Hamas fighters drove away with her.

The young woman told Netanyahu she was excited to speak Hebrew, having not spoken the language for a long time.

Netanyahu's office said later Saturday that the prime minister had approved the rescue operation last Thursday, and was present in the command room duringtheoperation.

In a recording of a phone call between Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Argamani released by Herzog's office, he told her:

Argamani's mother has late-stage brain cancer. In a video released last November, she made a desperate plea to be able to see her daughter one more time.

Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Saturday he was "overjoyed" that the four hostages had been freed. Israeli forces operated "with extraordinary courage under heavy fire, and succeeded in completing their mission," he said, adding, "Israel's defense establishment will continue fighting until 120 hostages return home."

The operation was "a great light in the terribledarkness," Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said Saturday. “Noa, Shlomi, Almog, and Andrei. We have been waiting for you, and we are still waiting for everyone. Everyone," the former prime minister added.

One of the four hostages freed from Gaza on Saturday, Noa Argamani, was featured in one of the most emblematic images of the October 7 attacks carried out by Hamas.

The 25-year-old woman, who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival, made headlines worldwide after a video emerged of her shouting and pleading from the seat of a motorbike as a group of Hamas fighters drove away with her.

In the video, Argamani's boyfriend, fellow Israeli citizen Avinatan Or, is also led away by Hamas fighters.

Four months later in February, Argamani's father Yaakov recounted to CNN's Erin Burnett how he felt when he first saw the video of his daughter: "When I saw the video I fainted. It tore me. This is our only daughter."

Noa's mother Liora Argamani is a Chinese citizen who has been grappling with late-stage brain cancer. In a video released last November, she made a desperate plea to be able to see her daughter one more time.

Argamani's family had previously received signs that she was still alive. The young woman was featured in a video released by Hamas on January 16, in which she announced the death of two fellow hostages in Hamas captivity. It was not clear at the time whether Argamani was speaking under duress.

With the announcement by the Israeli military that four hostages were rescued from Gaza on Saturday, the total number of hostages held in the Gaza Strip from the October 7 attack is now 116.

In addition, four people have been held since before October 7.

The total number of people kidnapped from Israel and being held in the Gaza Strip is 120, according to a count based on numbers from Israel's Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

The PMO believes that at least 41 hostages from the October 7 attack are dead, with their bodies being held in the Gaza Strip.

Of the four hostages being held in Gazaprior toOctober 7, two are Israeli soldiers who are dead. The other two are believed to be alive.

Israeli forces prepared for weeks for Saturday’s special military operation in which four Israeli hostages were rescued.

Hundreds of personnel from the Israeli military, the domestic intelligence service and a police special unit were involved in the rescue, military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Saturday.

Hagari added that the operation had been carried out with assistance from land, sea and air, and that the hostages had been freed under fire.

All four hostages appear to be in good health and will undergo further medical examination and be reunited with their families at an Israeli hospital, Hagari added.

The four freed hostages are Noa Argamani, 25; Almog Meir Jan, 21; Andrey Kozlov, 27; and Shlomi Ziv, 40.

The spokesperson said the Israel Defense Forces would “do everything” to free the remaining 120 hostages in the Gaza Strip.

Watch footage of the hostages after their rescue:

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum has hailed the Israeli military operation that freed four Israeli hostages from Gaza Saturday as “heroic” and “a miraculous triumph.”

“We continue to call upon the international community to apply the necessary pressure on Hamas to accept the proposed deal and release the other 120 hostages held in captivity; every day there is a day too far,” the group added.

"Good condition": The four hostages freed in the special military operation in Nuseirat in central Gaza are Noa Argamani, 25, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that they are “in good medical condition and have been transferred to the ‘Sheba’ Tel-HaShomer Medical Center for further medical examinations.”

The Israeli government is under intense pressure to rescue the remaining hostages, with weekly protests calling for their release.

Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz has postponed a Saturday evening news conference in which he was expected to announce his withdrawal from Israel's wartime emergency government.

Gantz’s office said Saturday that his conference would be postponed after four Israeli hostages were freed in a special operation in central Gaza.

Gantz said last month that he would resign, along with his National Unity Party, from the government if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not devise a plan to bring back the hostages and present a day-after strategy for Gaza by June 8.

News of the hostage rescue came as Israeli military said it was "targeting terrorist infrastructure" in the area of Nuseirat in central Gaza.

Heavy Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling is also taking place in the nearby areas of al-Zawaideh and Deir al-Balah, where casualties have been reported.

A CNN producer at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza confirmed at least 16 bodies had arrived at the hospital along with hundreds of injured people, including women and children.

Video shared on social media showed an Apache attack helicopter in the skies above the hospital.

Israel launched anew military operation in central Gazaearlier this week.

Four Israeli hostages have been freed in a special operation in the Nuseirat refugee camp.

Noa Argamani (25), Almog Meir Jan (21), Andrey Kozlov (27), and Shlomi Ziv (40) were rescued by the Israeli military, intelligence and special forces from two separate locations in Nuseirat, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Saturday.

All four were kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7th, according to the IDF.

This is a developing story, more to follow.