THE Israeli army bombed the Gaza Strip today, the day after a “difficult” operation that freed four Israeli hostages in its refugee camp Nusheiratwhere the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas claimed at least 274 Palestinians dead.

Four members of the same family were killed and many others injured in an aerial bombardment that hit their home in Al Daraja district of Gaza City, which is located in the northern part of the besieged Palestinian enclave, according to his doctors Al-Ahli Hospital.

In the central Gaza Strip, eyewitnesses reported shelling from helicopters in the eastern part of al-Burayj camp and artillery fire in Deir al-Balakh. Fires were also reported in Rafa, in the southern part.

In the ninth month of the devastating war between Israel and Hamas, the release of four hostages yesterday bolsters the military strategy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under great pressure abroad and at home.

This operation is proof that Israel will not back down “in the face of terrorism”, he declared with satisfaction, while negotiations aimed at a ceasefire in Gaza, related to the release of hostages, had already reached an impasse.

The freed hostages, Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Zon, 22, Andrei Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41, were all “kidnapped” from the Nova music festival area, according to during the unprecedented attack on Israeli soil by Hamas on October 7, which triggered the hostilities.

They were rescued by Israeli forces during “a difficult special operation in Nuseirat”, in the central part of the Gaza Strip, according to the Israeli military.

At the same time, Gaza’s health ministry announced that at least 274 Palestinians were killed and 698 wounded in Israeli strikes on al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza yesterday.

According to the same source, Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 37,084 Palestinians and injured 84,494 since October 7.

“Committing horrific massacres, the enemy managed to free some of the prisoners, but at the same time killed others, during the operation,” said Abu Obeida, the spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing. AFP is unable to independently verify this information.

“Trembling”

Declaring that she is “relieved” by the release of the hostages, the UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, expressed at the same time her regret that this was done “at the cost of at least 200 Palestinians, including children, dead and more than 400 injured”. “This terror must stop,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

In Nuseirat, Khalil Al-Tahrawi described hearing gunfire and shelling from his shelter. “The Israeli planes started bombing us (…) in order to cover the withdrawal operation,” he said.

The Israeli army left behind a landscape of utter devastation, according to images captured by AFPTV: burnt cars, destroyed buildings, fires and debris.

Men can be seen trying to make a way through the debris trying to put out the flames or rescue the injured. Others have gathered around corpses wrapped in blankets.

“We don’t know what happened. We were sitting quietly and, suddenly, we heard the shelling. We were 50 people who hid and saw rockets flying over our heads,” said another resident of Nuseirat, who did not want to give her name.

“Here we are, displaced for the third time, not knowing where to go,”

In Israel, it was a time for relief and celebration. In videos posted on social media, Noa Argamani’s touching meeting with her father is recorded, as well as Israelis on the beach crying with joy when hearing a lifeguard announce to them the release of the hostages.

“Back home”, was the headline today in two of the largest Israeli newspapers, the Yediot Aharonot and Israel Hayom, with the photo of Noa Argamani and her father dominating the front page.

The economic newspaper Calcalist hailed a “heroic operation”, which gave Israelis “a few hours of joy”.

“Miraculous Triumph”

The Hostage Families Forum hailed a “miraculous victory”, urging the government and the international community to secure the release of other hostages.

The hostages, according to the military, are “in good health” and have been taken to a medical center near Tel Aviv. The Israeli police announced the death of one of its members in the operations.

At the same time, the US military announced yesterday that it delivered, from the temporary floating jetty, which was repaired after the storm off the coast of Gaza, almost 500 tons of humanitarian aid, “essential” for the enclave’s 2.4 million residents who are facing with the threat of famine.

Instead, he denied that this pier–“its equipment, its personnel and its facilities,” served hostage-release operations.

In the same climate, the Israeli army denied the participation of American soldiers in the field for the release of hostages, after media reports that spoke of an American assistance in the operations.