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The Israeli military announced that they successfully rescued four hostages from a Gaza refugee camp, while the Hamas-run government media office reported that 210 Palestinians were killed and hundreds were injured during the operation.
The hostages, who were in "good medical condition", had been kidnapped during the Nova music festival attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
On the same day, aid started to flow back into the devastated Gaza Strip through a temporary pier built by the US military.
The pier, which had been briefly operational before suffering storm damage, was rebuilt and re-established on Friday.
The US Central Command stated that about 492 tons of humanitarian assistance were delivered via the pier on Saturday morning, emphasizing that it was unrelated to Israel's hostage rescue operation.
The Israeli military conducted a "complex" mission to rescue Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv, and released footage of their extraction by helicopter and emotional reunions at a Tel Aviv hospital.
Palestinians in Nuseirat, where the hostages were held, described intense bombardment and heavy gunfire during the operation.
The four hostages were among the seven that Israeli forces had freed alive since Hamas's attack in last year October.
There are still 116 hostages remaining in Gaza, including 41 that the army believes are deceased.
The news of the freed captives was met with celebration in Israel, while concerns about the remaining hostages led to demonstrations in Tel Aviv calling for an end to the eight-month-long war.
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