Both Israel and Hamas report failed attempts to rescue hostages in Gaza

Israeli forces carried out at least one targeted attack in the Gaza Strip on Friday in a failed attempt to rescue hostages held by Hamas, both sides said, making competing claims about the deaths and injuries inflicted.

The Israeli army and Hamas’s military wing gave different explanations, leaving it unclear whether they were describing the same rescue attempt or two separate events.

Two Israeli soldiers were seriously injured during a rescue mission in which no hostages were recovered, Admiral Daniel Hagari, the army’s chief spokesman, told reporters.

“The forces raided a Hamas location and eliminated terrorists who had participated in the kidnapping and capture of hostages,” he said.

In a statement, Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, described discovering an Israeli team trying to find a way to free an Israeli soldier unnoticed. In the ensuing battle, the statement said, “many soldiers were injured,” the hostage was killed and an Israeli rifle and a radio were recovered.

“As a result, Israeli warplanes targeted the entire area with heavy airstrikes to allow the special forces to find a way out,” the statement said.

The Israelis referred to several hostages and did not identify any of them as troops. Neither side acknowledged that any deaths had occurred.

Admiral Hagari said the military was continuously working with Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security agency, to determine where hostages were being held and by whom, and to plan rescue missions.

Israeli forces have reported only one previous targeted attack to retrieve a hostage, in late October. That raid resulted in the liberation of one woman, Ori Megidish, a 19-year-old Israeli soldier.

Hamas and other groups kidnapped more than 240 people during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, according to Israeli officials, who estimate that more than 130 people remain trapped in Gaza. More than a hundred people have been released, mostly women and children, and some are believed to have died in captivity. Hamas claims a number of hostages have been killed in Israeli airstrikes.