Heart-stopping moment IDF special forces rescue Israeli hostages from Hamas compound… before spraying bullets into their fleeing captors

Heartbreaking new footage shows the moment IDF special forces rescued four hostages during an attack in Gaza – before opening fire on their captors.

Hostages Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, Shlomi Ziv and Noa Argamani were taken by Hamas on Oct. 7 and rescued from two apartments in the downtown Nuseirat refugee camp Gaza on Saturday.

Shocking video of the moment special forces stormed the apartments shows the terrified hostages huddled in a corner as officers greet them.

Soldiers then opened fire on fleeing men as banging and shouting could be heard in the background.

The operation was “bold in nature, brilliantly planned and exceptionally executed,” Defense Secretary Yoav Gallant said.

Shocking video of the moment special forces stormed the apartments shows terrified hostages looking dazed as they realize they are being rescued. Hostage Almog Meir Jan is depicted

Meir is seen giving the thumbs up shortly after his release while surrounded by IDF soldiers

The rescue has sparked controversy after the Hamas-led Health Ministry in Gaza said 274 people, including children and other civilians, were killed during the mission.

The IDF has claimed that fewer than 100 people were killed in the operation, but if Hamas’s figures are correct, this would be one of the deadliest days of fighting yet.

In the video, IDF forces storm into an apartment, searching for targets before bursting into a bedroom where three men can be seen crouching.

One of the officers greets the men, who appear reassured, and bumps one of them with his fist before helping them.

Officers can then be seen shooting at fleeing men in the apartment gardens as they run through the trees with an audible burst of loud shots.

Military spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said the apartments were about 200 meters apart, in the heart of the Nuseirat refugee camp.

He said troops had repeatedly trained on a model of the apartment buildings and entered both apartments simultaneously in broad daylight to maintain the element of surprise.

But he said the rescuers came under heavy fire as they left, including from gunmen who fired rocket-propelled grenades from nearby.

He said the military responded with heavy force, including from aircraft, to bring back rescuers and free hostages.

In the video, the troops storm into the apartment, searching for targets before bursting into a bedroom where three men can be seen crouching.

Soldiers then opened fire on fleeing men as banging and shouting could be heard in the background

Of the 250 hostages kidnapped on October 7, about half were released during a week-long ceasefire in November.

About 120 hostages remain, of which 43 are dead. The survivors include about fifteen women, two children under the age of five and two men in their eighties.

Saturday’s operation brought the total number of hostages rescued to seven, including one who was released shortly after the October attack. Israeli forces have recovered the bodies of at least 16 others, according to the government.

IDF Admiral Daniel Hagari said: ‘We are talking about Al-Nuseirat, in the center of Gaza, where Hamas is holding hostages in a very cruel and cynical way in civilian buildings, in apartments in three- to four-story buildings.

“There are three hostages in one apartment, three male, and Noah Algamani in the second apartment.

‘There is only about 200 meters between those two buildings. We decided to carry out the operation on both, because if we had chosen only one, the risk that they would kill our hostages in the other was a huge risk.

‘Maybe they thought we were preparing for another raid.

‘You have to understand that they move the hostages from apartment to apartment, it happens from week to week.

‘We have to be very, very precise. We collect the information in multiple ways to ensure we are ready for this operation.

‘It has a lot of detail, like in a puzzle, and we never have all the links, but we have to make sure we have enough links.

‘We were building models of those houses for practice. It must be some kind of surgical operation, a brain operation. Because if one thing happens before the other, you could kill the hostages.

‘Why did we choose daylight? Because we understood that in those apartments with those guards the day will be the ultimate surprise.

‘The tension in the command room was very high. General Levi said the word of approval “Go” and the forces begin moving out at 11:00 am. The raid took place around 11:25 am.

‘The raid started simultaneously in both buildings. It was very, very complex, very, very intense.

‘In one building, Noa Argamani’s building, we totally surprised them, but it was still difficult.

“In the other building, where the three male hostages were, we had to shoot and crossfire with the guards.”