The Israeli police and the Israeli Security Agency have released video recorded on a helmet camera of the moment the three male hostages were rescued in Gaza on Saturday.
They described the video as being of the operation carried out by Yamam (Police National Counterterrorism Unit) and Shin Bet operatives “rescuing the hostages under heavy fire and eliminating Gaza terrorists.”
In a statement accompanying the video, which lasts some 45 seconds, they said that “Yamam and Shin Bet operatives worked simultaneously at two locations to rescue the four hostages, engaging in fierce combat with the terrorists.”
Part of the video is blurred. It shows Israeli security forces approaching a property through a garden and then entering amid heavy gunfire. CNN has geolocated the garden as at the same property where a Mercedes van purported to have been involved in the operation was located.
The video is edited and some audio is muted. It’s unclear whether it was all shot at one location. It shows the three male hostages rescued cowering in a room.
In the video, a voice says in Hebrew, “Here, they are here.”
“Name, name…,” says someone.
Two of the hostages identify themselves as Almog Meir Jan and Andrey Kozlov.
One of the rescuers is heard saying: “Three captives and missing [hostages], in our hands. Three captives and missing [hostages]. Everything is fine. We came to rescue you, be calm.”
Based on the clothes they were wearing when rescued, the three hostages then appear to run through the garden of the property as gunfire continues.
Some background: On Saturday, the Israeli military rescued four hostages, three men and a woman, in a special operation in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza – Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv. All four were kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7.
