Families of Israeli hostages have hailed the rescue of four captives as a “miraculous triumph”.
They were rescued in a complex special daytime operation in the heart of Nuseirat in central Gaza on Saturday.
All four were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova music festival on Oct 7 last year. Who are they?
Noa Argamani, 26
Noa became one of the most high-profile hostages in the immediate aftermath of Oct 7, as the moment of her capture appeared on countless newspaper front pages.
In a video that showed her being kidnapped, she screamed “don’t kill me!” as Hamas fighters dragged her away.
A student at Ben-Gurion University in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, Ms Argamani “loves life”, according to her friends on social media.
Her Chinese-Israeli mother has brain cancer and in a public video she spoke of her despair at the possibility she may not see her daughter before she dies.
Almog Meir Jan, 22
Almog, a resident of Or Yehuda in the Tel Aviv area, left a voice message just before 8am on Oct 7 on the mobile phone of his mother Orit Meir.
“Mum, rockets are (falling) everywhere. I don’t know what is going on,” he said. “Mum, I love you.”
Orit told reporters in Athens in November that her life had become “a nightmare”.
The last glimpse she had of her son was a Hamas video released shortly after the attack.
“He was lying on the ground,” she said at the time. “He was terrified, terrified.”
Andrey Kozlov, 27
The Russian-Israeli was a security guard at the Supernova music festival. During the attack, he was in touch with his father and friends, saying he had nowhere to hide.
His family was informed three weeks later that he had been taken hostage.
Born in Saint Petersburg, he had recently arrived in Israel and was living in Rishon Lezion, south of Tel Aviv.
Shlomi Ziv, 41
Shlomi was part of the security team at the festival.
One of his two sisters spoke to him at 7.30am on the day of the attack.
He told her there had been shooting and rocket fire and there was a bottleneck of cars trying to leave the site.
His last conversation took place within the hour. Out of breath and running, he told his other sister he would call back.
Shlomi lived with his wife in the town of Elkosh near the Lebanese border.
He worked as a wholesale distributor but had recently studied to become an interior designer.
Source Agencies
