The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, an organization that represents the families of the Israeli hostages, held a celebratory rally in Tel-Aviv Saturday for the rescue of Noa Argamani, 25; Almog Meir Jan, 21; Andrey Kozlov, 27; and Shlomi Ziv, 40, but stressed the urgency of bringing the remaining captives home from Gaza.
“The joyous news of the return home of Shlomi, Noa, Almog and Andrey to their families through a military operation reminds us all that, for 36 weeks, 120 hostages have been waiting to return home,” the group said in a statement.
Israeli soldiers have rescued 7 living hostages across 3 separate military operations. In May, the IDF recovered the bodies of 9 deceased hostages.
IDF officials have said that dozens of planned rescue missions have not come to fruition out of fear that hostages or soldiers would be killed in the process. Hamas responded to the Saturday rescue by accusing Israel of a "complex war crime." The terrorist organization also threatened that the rescue mission had endangered the lives of the remaining hostages and that it would have "a negative impact on their conditions and lives."
