The hostages rescued Saturday in the operation in Gaza’s Nuseirat reported to medical teams that during their captivity, they were subjected to what they described as "brainwashing" and emotional abuse, with the terrorists forcing them to read the Quran and study Islamic rulings.
Hebrew-language Channel 13 reported that Noa Argamani told her family she was held captive with Yossi Sharabi and Itay Svirsky, who were killed in Hamas captivity. The IDF later confirmed Sharabi likely died during an airstrike on a building near where he was held, and Svirsky was murdered days later.
"I saw the missile hit the house, I thought I was going to die. I thought it was over – but I survived," Argamani recounted. She also said that she was moved between several apartments and was not held in tunnels. Occasionally, she was allowed to go outside disguised as an Arab woman and rarely had the chance to shower.
Argamani was rescued Saturday morning in a daring operation by the IDF, Shin Bet and Yamam in the heart of Nuseirat, central Gaza. She was held in an apartment on the first floor of a building, just a few hundred yards away from where the other three hostages, Shlomi Ziv, Almog Meir Jan and Andrey Kozlov, were confined.
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Shlomi Ziv, Andrey Kozlov, Noa Argamani and Almog Meir Jan
(Photo: REUTERS/Marko Djurica, Maayan Toaf/GPO, IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
She recounted to her family that she heard loud knocks that morning. "Out of nowhere, they told her it was the IDF, 'We have come to rescue you.' She was in shock," said her relative, Assaf Shaheebi, at Sheba Medical Center outside Tel Aviv, where the four freed hostages were taken.
After her release, Argamani was tearfully embraced by her father Yaakov. She later reunited with her mother, who is battling cancer and hospitalized at Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv. In conversations with President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, she said, "I am very excited; I haven't spoken Hebrew for so long."
Meanwhile, a relative of Almog Meir Jan told Ynet that a few weeks ago, when he celebrated his birthday in captivity, Hamas terrorists filmed him and said they would send the video to Israel.
"He even asked us, 'Did you see the video?'" she recounted. The video, however, was never released by Hamas and therefore never circulated in Israel. She added that during the dramatic rescue operation, Almog was asleep and does not remember all the details.
Andrey Kozlov shared some of his experiences in captivity during a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to Netanyahu, Kozlov, who immigrated from Russia, kept a journal. "Andrey told me he had a notebook in captivity and wrote one line each day. Every day a gift. Every day - podarok (in Russian), a gift," he said.
Later, Kozlov spoke with President Isaac Herzog by phone, revealing that he actually learned Hebrew during his captivity. "I started learning Hebrew exactly a year ago, so I had a lot of practice with my fellow captives," said Kozlov, who was abducted from the Nova music festival where he worked as a security guard, a year after immigrating to Israel alone. Herzog responded, "Indeed, you learned Hebrew there."
The operation was preceded by weeks of meticulous planning, drills and advanced intelligence tracking. The hostages were held in civilian areas, above ground, in buildings with three to four floors. The forces stormed two separate locations where the hostages were kept: Argamani was held on the first floor of one building, while Kozlov, Ziv and Meir Jan were held on the third floor of another building, hundreds of yards apart, alongside Gazan families.
During the operation, Yamam fighter Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora, who "led the force" according to the IDF, was killed in the apartment where the three men were held. It was later decided that the operation would be renamed from Summer Seeds to Operation Arnon.
The rescue operation was approved by senior political leadership on Thursday evening during a classified discussion held under strict confidentiality. It was carried out in an area where IDF ground forces had not maneuvered against Hamas battalions until now, only operating on its outskirts.
In recent weeks, it was decided to intensify intelligence efforts to focus on the locations where the four hostages were being held by terrorists of Hamas’ elite Nukhba force. Accordingly, the 98th Division began raiding the eastern parts of Nuseirat, while special forces were simultaneously deployed for covert and intelligence surveillance of two locations where the four hostages were held.
In recent weeks, Hamas had fortified its positions in Nuseirat in anticipation of a major IDF operation. The rescue mission, involving strategic diversions and deceptions, commenced at 11:00 AM when the joint command center, led by Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, gave the green light with the "Go" command.
Yamam and Shin Bet operatives simultaneously stormed the two targets, engaging in firefights with the terrorists and successfully rescuing the four hostages alive. The hostages were transferred to Air Force helicopters, which took them to hospitals for examinations, with their condition reported as good. Palestinian sources reported dozens of casualties in their ranks from IDF fire in central Gaza.