Israeli military rescues 2 hostages in a dramatic raid in the Gaza Strip

A woman walks past pictures of hostages in Tel Aviv. — AP

The Israeli military rescued two hostages from the Gaza Strip early on Monday in a dramatic operation that also killed at least 67 Palestinians in airstrikes, according to Palestinian hospital officials.

The raid took place in Rafah, the city on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip where 1.4 million Palestinians have fled to escape fighting elsewhere in the Israel-Hamas war. Women and children were among those killed in the airstrikes, Palestinian officials said.

The Palestinian death toll from the war has surpassed 28,000 people, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. A quarter of Gaza’s residents are starving.

The war began with Hamas’ assault into Israel on October 7, in which militants abducted around 250. Israel says about 100 hostages remain in Hamas captivity, while Hamas is holding the remains of roughly 30 others who were either killed on October 7 or died in captivity. Three hostages were mistakenly killed by the army after escaping their captors in December.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 28,000 Palestinians in the territory, displaced over 80 per cent of the population and set off a massive humanitarian crisis.

The Health Ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said more than 12,300 Palestinian minors and 8,400 women have been killed so far in Israel’s war on Hamas in the battered territory.

Minors made up about 43 per cent of the total number of 28,340 Palestinians killed so far. Women and minors together make up 73 per cent of those killed in the war, according to the ministry’s figures.