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go through Adam Harvey and Aziz El Kalut
(ABC – Australia) In the Nusserat 5 refugee camp in Gaza, Abdullah Jude came face to face with a team of Israeli special forces and survived.
“I found them right in front of me,” Mr Joudeh told 7.30.
“Some were in trucks, some were on ladders, some were on balconies with iron pads — like you see in American movies — breaking down doors.”
The video released by the Israeli military showed the squad shooting their way into an apartment building. They found three Israelis kidnapped at the Nova festival October 7 – 22-year-old Almog Meir Jan, 27-year-old Andrei Kozlov and 41-year-old Shlomi Ziv.
Another Israeli, 26-year-old Noa Argamani, was rescued from a nearby building.
Mr. Jude said he was not aware of any hostages being held in the area.
Gaza health authorities said 274 people had died in the rescue operation, while Israel put the death toll at more than 100.
Neither side said how many of the dead were civilians, but there was no dispute that the street was packed with people shopping at a nearby market when the rare daylight attack took place.
“The gunfire continued for about 45 minutes, without stopping for a second,” Mr Joudeh, who was displaced three times during the war and moved to the refugee camp a month ago, told 7.30.
“There was shooting everywhere. From artillery, quadcopters, drones, F-16s, everything was shooting non-stop.
“After about 45 minutes, the gunfire stopped, so we thought they had retreated and we needed to go downstairs to see if we could get to the street.
“We were afraid they were going to wipe out the community above us because we heard they were releasing captives.
“We decided to go out to the street because it’s safer there.”
Mr. Zhude said that soon afterward, his building was hit by an airstrike and destroyed.
He said anyone who remained inside was killed.
“There were so many martyrs in the streets, people were running around as if it was Judgment Day,” he said.
“Absolutely horrific.”
Hostages’ families still waiting
In stark contrast to the grief in Gaza, the return of four hostages who had been held captive for eight months has raised emotions across Israel.
“I’m very happy. These people are like my family,” Meirav Leshem Gonen told 7.30.
“I know Almog’s mother, Almog’s uncle, Andre’s mother, Shlomi’s wife, Noah’s father and aunt, I know them all.”
She knows these families so well because of the strong friendships they have developed since her daughter Romi was kidnapped on October 7.
“But it’s mixed emotions because I’m jealous. I want my daughter to go. Not in place of any of them, but I want my daughter to go, too. I envy them.”
It was impossible to know the consequences of the raid, she said.
She told 7.30: “I think everything is just speculation because we don’t really know what effect this action will have on the hostage negotiations.”
“It can help the negotiations because Hamas will see that we are not going to sit still, we are trying to drive them away from the negotiating table and we intend to do that at all costs, and if we cannot reach an agreement then we will use force.”
“It (could) also have the effect of delaying the agreement, and then my daughter could stay with Hamas for a few more days.”
“Pain of death”
Laura Blumenfeld, a Middle East analyst and journalist at Johns Hopkins University, said the attack made the world aware that 116 Israelis were still unaccounted for in Gaza.
“We kind of forgot what it was like when people were released since November and we haven’t had any movement,” Blumenfield said.
“The second thing is that it gives Israel a little bit of support, which I think is what they need to make concessions.
“If they do need to make concessions, this will help them save face.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel this week to try to broker a ceasefire to free the surviving hostages.
It was his eighth trip abroad since the conflict began, but Blumenfeld said both leaders had to sign off on a deal. Neither Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu nor Hamas’s Yahya Sinwar was willing to compromise.
“Both of them were speaking in absolute terms,” she said.
“For Sinwar, it’s a permanent ceasefire, and for Netanyahu, it’s a total victory.
“The problem here is that negotiation is usually a pain/gain trade-off, but for these two leaders the pain is the pain of death.
“For Netanyahu, it was political death, and for Sinwar, it was literal death.”
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