They had been held there since Hamas Palestinian militants captured them on October 7 during their attack on the Supernova music festival in southern Israel, the Israeli army said.

The captives were identified by the army as Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv. The hostages were rescued during a “complex” operation at two locations in Nuseirat, central Gaza, according to the IDF. Authorities in Hamas-run Gaza said the mission left dozens dead.

Argamani, 26 had been one of the most widely recognised hostages after being kidnapped from a music festival in southern Israel.

The video of her abduction was among the first to surface in the immediate aftermath of October 7, with Argamani taken away by two Hamas fighters on a motorcycle as she screamed, “Don’t kill me!”

The video showed her boyfriend, Avinatan Or, an engineer, being led away separately.

More recently, Argamani had been featured in propaganda videos broadcast by the group.

Her mother, Liora, has stage four brain cancer and in April released a video pleading to see her daughter before she dies.

Video of Argamani embracing her father after being reunited was broadcast by Israel News 12. She was expected to next visit the Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv where her mother has been undergoing treatments for brain cancer.

An elated Argamani spoke by phone with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In an audio message released by the government, Netanyahu is heard asking how she’s feeling. She tells him she is “very excited,” saying she hasn’t heard Hebrew in so long.

She and the other three former hostages are in good health and recovering at Tel HaShomer hospital in central Israel, Haaretz reports.

“On behalf of the entire people of Israel, I thank the IDF, the Shin Bet, the Israel Police and the Israel Defense Forces for an impressive and daring rescue operation, and I wish for the speedy return of all our abductees to their families. Israel Lives!,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in an X post Saturday.

The four were among 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7 attack that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip, now in its ninth month. Dozens were released during a one-week truce in November, and before Saturday only three other captives were freed in Israeli military raids.

Israel says that another 130 hostages remain in Gaza, though a high percentage of them could be dead as a result of deprivation from captivity, The NY Post reports.

Cheers erupted on the beaches of Tel Aviv after lifeguards announced the successful operation, videos of the moment circulating on X showed.

The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israeli commander killed in ‘daring’ rescue operation

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.

“Behind every rescue mission, are Israeli men and women who risk their lives. We are devastated to share that Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora, commander and tactical operator in the Yamam (National Police Counter-Terrorism Unit), who was critically wounded in the operation to rescue hostages this morning, has succumbed to his wounds.”

Israel’s retaliatory bombardments and ground offensive on Gaza have killed 36,801 people, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan praised “the work of the Israeli security services that conducted this daring operation”.

US President Joe Biden on Saturday welcomed the freeing in an Israeli operation of four hostages held by Palestinian militants in Gaza, vowing to work until all the captives were released and a ceasefire in place.

“We won’t stop working until all the hostages are home and a ceasefire is reached. That’s essential to happen,” Biden said in Paris alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, who also congratulated the families for the release of the hostages.

“We rejoice at the release of the four Israeli hostages freed by the Israeli army today,” said Macron.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan praised “the work of the Israeli security services that conducted this daring operation”.

In a statement Saturday morning, Sullivan pressed for an agreement to free the hostages and end the war.

“The hostage release and ceasefire deal that is now on the table would secure the release of all the remaining hostages together with security assurances for Israel and relief for the innocent civilians in Gaza,” he said, adding that the agreement has the backing of many countries.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will head to the Middle East next week to promote the deal.

“We want to achieve an immediate ceasefire and open up the prospect of a political solution,” Macron said in Paris alongside Biden.

– With AFP