Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

IDF releases footage from 2024 Gaza rescue

The Israeli military released bodycam footage from the raid that freed hostages Luis Har and Fernando Marman.

A screenshot from IDF body camera footage shows commandos evacuating freed hostage Luis Har during the “Golden Hand” rescue operation in Gaza, Feb. 12, 2024. Credit: IDFonline/X.
A screenshot from IDF body camera footage shows commandos evacuating freed hostage Luis Har during the “Golden Hand” rescue operation in Gaza, Feb. 12, 2024. Credit: IDFonline/X.

The Israel Defense Forces released previously unseen body camera footage on Friday, marking two years since a hostage rescue operation in Gaza.

On Feb. 12, 2024, commandos from the Israeli Navy’s Shayetet 13 (“Flotilla 13") and the General Staff’s Mobility Unit 5515 rescued hostages Luis Har and Fernando Marman from Hamas captivity in Rafah, the southern Gaza Strip, after 129 days, the IDF said. The operation was conducted jointly with the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet).

The newly released footage shows the evacuation drive through Gaza following the rescue, according to the IDF statement posted on social media.

Har was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak along with his girlfriend and other family members during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel.

The rescue operation was code-named “Golden Hand.”

Har described the moments of his rescue in video testimony posted to X by the Israeli embassy in the United States, saying that “someone pushed my head down, and said, ‘Luis, IDF. We’re coming to take you home.’'

See more from JNS Staff
An American Jewish Committee spokesman told JNS that the group is “grateful for the severity with which the Justice Department is handling this case.”
NYPD said the investigation into the death of Albert Itzkowitz, 75, a former Hatzolah volunteer and kosher bakery owner, remains ongoing and that no arrests have been made.
“At a time when Jewish Americans are facing a deeply troubling rise in violence and harassment, it is critical to recognize organizations that have spent generations standing up to hate and defending the truth,” Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. said.
Rabbi Jason Rosner, of Congregation B’nai Emet, told JNS that “we are prepared to evacuate our Torahs if necessary.”
The PAC’s co-chairs stated that Ammar Campa-Najjar is “the only candidate campaigning on a progressive agenda in this race.”
“This settlement reaffirms a basic principle, which is that American law cannot tolerate taxpayer dollars flowing to a system that rewards terrorism,” Mark Goldfeder, CEO and director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, told JNS.