Palestinians describe intense bombardment during hostage rescue

Palestinians living in the densely populated area where Israeli hostages were being held by Hamas have described the terror of coming under intense bombardment and heavy gunfire during the rescue operation.

On Saturday Israel’s forces, backed by air strikes, fought intense gun battles with Hamas around the Nuseirat refugee camp to free four hostages.

Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrei Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41, who had been abducted from an Israeli music festival eight months ago have been returned to Israel.

But, the rescue operation also saw scores of Palestinians killed in and around a refugee camp, including women and children, the Hamas-run health ministry said.

One man, Abdel Salam Darwish told the BBC he was in a market buying vegetables when he heard fighter jets from above and the sound of gunfire.

“Afterwards, people’s bodies were in pieces, scattered in the streets, and blood stained the walls,” he said.

The European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs, Josep Borrell said he condemned the attacks “in the strongest terms” saying that the “bloodbath must end immediately”.

“Reports from Gaza of another massacre of civilians are appalling,” he wrote on X.

An Israeli minister said he should condemn Hamas instead.