Published February 12, 2024
- Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70, were rescued from Gaza Strip
- It followed a raid by the IDF on a property in the city of Rafah early on Monday
- Both were kidnapped by Hamas militants from Kibbutz Nir Yizhak on October 7
The two men rescued by IDF soldiers who used their own bodies as human shields during a pitched battle with Hamas in Rafah, Gaza’s final remaining city, have today been pictured hugging their families for the first time in months.
The Israeli military said it rescued two male hostages from captivity in the Gaza Strip – 128 days after they were kidnapped.
The two men were rescued from a residential building in the border town of Rafah during a raid that killed at least seven people.
The army identified the two men, both Argentinian-Israelis, as Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70, and said both were in good medical condition.
Both men were kidnapped by Hamas militants from Kibbutz Nir Yizhak in the October 7 cross-border attack that started the Israel-Hamas war. They were today seen being embraced by their families, who they have not seen for four months.
IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari gave details this morning of the raid that saved the hostages’ lives, which saw counter-terrorism police using their own bodies as human shields.
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SOURCE: www.dailymail.co.uk
RELATED: IDF Rescues 2 Israeli Hostages in Rafah — After Biden Warned Israel Not to Go There
Published February 11, 2024
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) rescued two Israeli hostages on Sunday in the town of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, bringing elation to Israel and hope for the rescue of more hostages.
In a joint statement, the IDF, Israel Security Agency (ISA), and Israel Police said:
It was cleared for publication that during a joint IDF, ISA, and Israel Police operation in Rafah, overnight, two Israeli hostages were rescued, Fernando Simon Marman (60) and Louis Har (70), who were kidnapped by the Hamas terrorist organization on October 7th from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak.
They are both in good medical condition, and were transferred for medical examination at the Sheba Tel Hashomer hospital.
Security forces will continue to operate with all means in order to return the hostages home.
According to online biographies, both hostage are originally from Argentina. Their release comes after the visit last week of Argentinian President Javier Milei, who visited families of Argentinian-Israeli hostages and survivors of the October 7 terror attack. Both men were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Yitzchak during the October 7 terror attack.
According to Israel’s Army Radio, the hostages were rescued from within, or underneath, a “refugee” camp in Rafah. Rafah is a town on the border with Egypt that is the last stronghold of Hamas, with four battalions thought to be hiding in the city.
Earlier Sunday, President Joe Biden warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to attack Hamas in Rafah until there was a credible plan for evacuating the roughly one million Palestinian civilians who have fled there from elsewhere in the Gaza Strip.
Many other nations have also tried to urge Israel not to attack Hamas in Rafah, ostensibly because of a humanitarian crisis that could ensue, or because of the possible flight of Palestinians into Egypt. Netanyahu has ordered an evacuation and attack plan.
The two hostages were the first ones rescued since the IDF rescued female soldier Ori Megidish in October. Three hostages were accidentally killed in December after they had escaped their Hamas captors and tried to cross over to Israeli lines during a battle.
Update: Israel’s Army Radio reported that the hostages were rescued from a building in an operation involving both ground forces and airstrikes, and that several terrorists were killed in the battle. The Israel Air Force struck targeted buildings after the hostages had been extracted.
The Times of Israel reported:
Asked on his first impressions of the pair, [Har’s son-in-law Idan] Bejerano said “They’re both in bed at the hospital. It’s difficult to know, but they look whole. Whether they’re healthy in spirit, in body, is still hard to know. But they look whole.”
“It seems they had strength of spirit for these 128 days, to remain strong and to come back to us.”
He notes that neither is young, with Har turning 71 in a few weeks’ time, and Marman having marked his 61st birthday in captivity.
There are 134 Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza, several dozens of whom are thought to be dead.
According to a local Jewish religious leader in New York, members of the Har and Marman families visited the Ohel, the gravesite of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, last week to offer prayers for their relatives’ release.
