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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.’'

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