Israeli attacks in central Gaza killed scores of Palestinians, many of them civilians, on Saturday amid a special forces operation to free four hostages held there, with the death toll sparking international outrage.
At least 274 Palestinians were killed and 698 wounded in Israeli strikes on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, Gaza’s health ministry said on Sunday. The Israeli military said its forces came under heavy fire during the daytime operation.
The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, called it a “massacre”, while the UN’s aid chief described in graphic detail scenes of “shredded bodies on the ground”.
“Nuseirat refugee camp is the epicentre of the seismic trauma that civilians in Gaza continue to suffer,” Martin Griffiths said in a post on X, calling for a ceasefire and the release of all hostages.
The bodies of 109 Palestinians including 23 children and 11 women were taken to al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital, which also treated more than 100 wounded, a spokesperson, Khalil Degran, told AP.
He also said more than 100 people killed in Israeli attacks had been taken to al-Awda hospital, with 210 victims in total. That figure was also given by the Hamas media office, but could not be verified.
The Israeli military spokesperson R Adm Daniel Hagari confirmed on Saturday that dozens of Palestinians had been killed. He knew that “under 100” casualties had been reported, but could not say how many were civilians, he told a briefing.
The rescue raid was Israel’s largest such operation of the war, freeing Noa Argamani, 25, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40. All four were healthy and were reunited with their families on Saturday after medical tests.
Scores of hostages are believed to be held in densely populated areas or inside Hamas’ labyrinth of tunnels, making such operations extremely complex and risky. A similar raid in February rescued two hostages while leaving 74 Palestinians dead.
While Israelis celebrated their return, Palestinians in Gaza mourned the many dead, or watched over injured loved ones in the overcrowded al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital.
One wave of heavy Israeli bombing in Nuseirat was launched to secure the passage of the three men, who had been held together. Argamani was rescued alone, from a separate location.
The special forces team extracting male hostages was confronted by militants, Israel’s Channel 12 television reported, and when a rescue vehicle got stuck, called in backup from Israel’s airforce and other troops in the area. They escaped under heavy bombardment, the report said.
Special forces operated under heavy fire in a “complex urban environment” to carry out the rescue, the Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said, describing it as one of the most extraordinary operations he had seen in a decades-long military career.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the raid – only the third successful military rescue of the war – was proof “Israel does not surrender to terrorism”. He has long insisted that military pressure is the best way to ensure the return of all Israelis captured on 7 October.
But beyond Israel, the hostages’ joyful reunions with their families were overshadowed by the horror at how many people were killed in Gaza during the operation to secure their release.
Borrell, in a post on X condemned “in the strongest terms … reports from Gaza of another massacre of civilians”. He called for a ceasefire and the release of all remaining hostages. “The bloodbath must end immediately,” he said.
As the war drags on into its ninth month, Netanyahu has come under increasing international pressure to agree a ceasefire deal and domestic pressure to secure the return of all Israelis still held in Gaza.
The rescue operation may give Netanyahu temporary relief at home. After the news broke, his political rival Benny Gantz, a security cabinet member, delayed a speech planned for Saturday evening. He had been widely expected to announce he was leaving the government, having given Netanyahu an ultimatum to form a long-term plan for Gaza.
But hostages’ families were quick to repeat their demands for a ceasefire deal to release their loved ones, saying in a statement on Saturday evening that the military could not bring back all of those still held captive.
“The hostages don’t have time. We can’t free everyone in operations, and we must go for a deal that will save lives,” said Ayala Metzger, the daughter-in-law of the hostage Yoram Metzger, 80, who this week was announced to have died in captivity.
Israeli forces have now freed seven hostages, but the majority of those who are now back home were handed over under a temporary ceasefire deal last November. There are still 120 held in Gaza, at least a third of them presumed dead.
A spokesperson for Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, Hamas’s armed brigades, Abu Ubaida, also claimed some Israeli hostages had been killed during the rescue raid, without giving evidence or details.
Internationally, the death toll in Gaza may isolate Netanyahu further, and give additional weight to calls for a halt to fighting.
US intelligence was reportedly involved in supporting the Israeli mission, and the president, Joe Biden, welcomed the return of the four hostages, but also said efforts to reach a deal to halt the war and secure the return of everyone held in Gaza would continue.
He has personally pushed hard for an agreement and apparently been frustrated by resistance in the Israeli government, suggesting in a recent interview that Netanyahu may be prolonging the war to protect his personal political interests.
