MOMENT IDF LOCATED AND RESCUED NOA ARGAMANI FROM HAMAS CAPTIVITY
This is the moment IDF forces in Gaza swept in to rescue Noa Argamani from Hamas captivity in a daring raid before returning her safely to Israel.
Dramatic headcam footage shows Israeli special forces breaching a compound with assault rifles and finding the 26-year-old, telling her 'Noa, everything is alright. We're taking you home'.
Israeli troops rescued Noa and three other hostages after 245 days in the beleaguered Gaza Strip in the largest and most successful operation of the war last week.
Noa was seen being directed by her rescuers to a car before being pulled out of Gaza in a military helicopter and returned safely to a hospital in Ramat Gan, Israel.
Noa Argamani made front pages around the world when she was dragged into Gaza on October 7, filmed being kidnapped on the back of a motorcycle with her boyfriend as she cried out, 'Don't kill me!'
Video released by Israel on Twitter/X showed forces rushing in and reassuring Noa of her safety last Saturday.
It was the culmination of weeks of planning, according to Israel, and was welcomed by many at home jaded by the lack of progress in returning hostages snatched last October.
Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40, were also recovered in a daytime operation in two separate locations in the heart of Nuseirat.
Fast-paced headcam footage showed Israeli troops moving through the compound, which appeared to be a house in Gaza, with natural light and a fitted kitchen.
She is seen to be pulled out into the street as her rescuers urge her to 'stop', apparently checking they are clear to move before rushing her towards a car.
Grainy black and white video shared by Israel last week purported to show three hostages then taking of in an Israeli helicopter after their rescue to head back to Israel.
Noa had spent 245 days in Hamas captivity after being dragged from the Supernova Music Festival in southern Israel into Gaza on October 7.
Images of her being kidnapped on the back of a motorcycle with her boyfriend, Avinatan Or, horrified onlookers and saw international condemnation land with Hamas.
Her partner is believed to still be in the Palestinian enclave.
Israel says more than 130 hostages remain, with about a quarter of those believed dead, and divisions are deepening in the country over how to bring them home.
Following her release, Noa was pictured enjoying a Coca Cola with her father, and filmed receiving phone calls from President Isaac Herzog and Netanyahu.
The Hostages Families Forum Headquarters - a volunteer-based organisation set up to help bring hostages home - called the recovery of the four hostages 'a miraculous triumph', and called on Israel's government to bring home those still being held.
They said in a statement: 'The heroic operation by the IDF that freed and brought home Noa Argamani, Shlomi Ziv, Andrey Kozlov, and Almog Meir Jan is a miraculous triumph.
'Now, with the joy that is washing over Israel, the Israeli government must remember its commitment to bring back all 120 hostages still held by Hamas - the living for rehabilitation, the murdered for burial.
'We continue to call upon the international community to apply the necessary pressure on Hamas to accept the proposed deal and release the other 120 hostages held in captivity; every day there is a day too far.'
But serious questions were also raised over the human cost of the rescue mission, with the Hamas-run health ministry claiming it left 274 people dead and 698 wounded.
Critics of Israel's conduct, including many supporters of hostages, continue to urge Israel to find a diplomatic solution with Hamas to bring an end to the war and return the hostages - but progress has been slow since the negotiation of a temporary truce last November.