Israeli security forces said early Monday that they had rescued two hostages who were being held in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, in one of the few examples of a successful hostage rescue in Gaza since the start of the war.
The hostages, Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70, were undergoing tests at a hospital in Tel Aviv and were both in good condition, according to a joint statement from the Israeli military, the police and the domestic security agency, Shin Bet.
The statement was issued around the same time that Israel said it had conducted a “wave” of attacks on Rafah, a crowded city at the border with Egypt where more than a million Palestinian refugees are anxiously expecting an Israeli ground invasion.
Mr. Marman and Mr. Har were among more than 240 people captured during the surprise Oct. 7 raid on southern Israel by Hamas and other militant groups, which later prompted Israel to retaliate with massive airstrikes and a ground invasion in Gaza. The statement said the two men had been captured from Nir Yitzhak, near the Gaza border. No other details were immediately available.
Israel has been discussing plans to send troops into Rafah, even as aid groups, the United Nations and the United States have warned that the people sheltering there have nowhere to go. Egypt has so far
