Hamas says more than 200 killed as Israel rescues four Gaza hostages

PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES — Israel said its forces rescued on Saturday four hostages alive from a Gaza refugee camp where the Hamas-run government media office reported attacks left 210 Palestinians dead and hundreds wounded.

The Israeli military said the four, who were in "good medical condition", had been kidnapped from the Nova music festival during Hamas's October 7 attack that sparked war with Israel, now in its ninth month.

Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41, had been rescued from two separate buildings "in the heart of Nuseirat" camp in a "complex daytime operation", the military said.

They are among seven captives freed alive by Israeli forces since Palestinian militants seized 251 people in their October attack on southern Israel.

There are now 116 hostages remaining in Gaza, including 41 the army says are dead.

Footage posted on social media showed beachgoers erupting into cheers in Tel Aviv when a lifeguard announced the four had been freed.

"We have had these hostages in our thoughts for every day for the better part of a year now -- to have even a few of them rescued against all odds, it means the world," 42-year-old Israeli Uriya Bekenstein told AFP.

In Gaza, the Hamas media office said "the number of victims from the Israeli occupation's massacre in the Nuseirat camp has risen to 210 martyrs and more than 400 wounded".

Israeli police said an officer was mortally wounded during the rescue operation.

It was carried out despite growing international pressure on Israel after a deadly strike on a UN-run school in Nuseirat where displaced Gazans were sheltering.

"We are determined to bring back home all the hostages," said military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.

Hamas's Qatar-based leader Ismail Haniyeh vowed to keep fighting.

"Our people will not surrender, and the resistance will continue to defend our rights," Haniyeh said in a statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced regular street protests demanding a deal to bring the captives home, with demonstrators rallying again on Saturday in Tel Aviv.

"Noa (Argamani) is home! We want all of them!" read one banner at the protest.

On Saturday