At least 94 Palestinians killed in Gaza during hostage rescue operation

An official at a hospital in central Gaza says at least 94 bodies have arrived during heavy fighting.

Khalil Degran spoke to The Associated Press as fighting continued in the part of Gaza where the Israeli military rescued four hostages Saturday morning.

The official says more than 100 wounded have also arrived at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al Balah.

Israel said after the hostage release that it would continue fighting until all taken in the October 7 attack that started the war are freed.

Rescue operation

Israel said it rescued four hostages who were kidnapped in a Hamas-led attack on October 7, in the largest such hostage recovery operation since the war with Hamas began in Gaza.

The army said it rescued Noa Argamani, 25; Almog Meir Jan, 21; Andrey Kozlov, 27; and Shlomi Ziv, 40, in a complex special daytime operation in Nuseirat. The hostages were rescued in two separate locations in the heart of Nuseirat, it said.

Hamas kidnapped some 250 hostages during its attack on southern Israel on October 7, which triggered the Israel-Hamas war. About half were released in a weeklong cease-fire in November. Israel says more than 130 hostages remain, with about a quarter of those believed dead, and divisions are deepening in the country over the best way to bring them home.

The rescue comes as international pressure mounts on Israel to limit civilian bloodshed in its war in Gaza, which reached its eighth month on Friday. Seeking a breakthrough in the apparently stalled cease-fire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return to the Middle East next week.

Israel's offensive has killed at least 36,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its figures.

Saturday's operation is the largest recovery of alive hostages since the war erupted, bringing the total of rescued captives to seven.