How an Israeli hostage rescue in Gaza unfolded | Visual Forensics

On the morning of June 8, Israeli commandos launched a raid that rescued four hostages who had been taken during Hamas’s attack on Oct. 7 and held inside Gaza for eight months. Before the operation, Israel had freed only three hostages by force. The successful rescue prompted celebrations inside Israel, but for Palestinians, it was one of the deadliest days of the war. The Gaza Health Ministry said that 274 Palestinians were killed during the operation. The Israeli military said that there were fewer than 100 casualties.

This Washington Post video investigation reconstructs the raid in which Israel sought to free hostages — Noa Argamani, Shlomi Ziv, Almog Meir Jan and Andrey Kozlov — that Hamas had hidden in a crowded residential area. It shows how the Israeli military employed heavy airstrikes for nearly four hours, leaving women and children among the casualties. The Post identified at least 13 airstrikes across Nuseirat, a refugee camp in central Gaza, and at least 17 destroyed structures in the vicinity of the raid.

The Post reviewed and mapped more than 100 videos and photos of the raid and its aftermath to conduct this detailed investigation — most were posted online by local residents and journalists, some were shared directly with The Post and others were published by the Israel Defense Forces on their social media channels.

Subscribe to The Washington Post on YouTube

#Gaza #Israel #Documentary