Finally, some good news coming out of the Middle East—Israel's security forces on Monday announced that they'd free a soldier who had been held hostage by Hamas since their October 7 terror attacks. The Israeli Defense Forces said the soldier, Pvt. Ori Megidish, was rescued in an overnight information in Gaza, but they did not provide further details.
She was reportedly in good condition and has been reunited with her family:
Although security forces did not go into any great detail about the operation, they did report that it had been in the works for some time and that no Israeli soldiers were wounded in the effort:
Megidish was an observation soldier, taken hostage by Hamas when terrorists stormed the Nahal Oz base over three weeks ago.
The Shin Bet and IDF were not expected to reveal further information on how Megidish was rescued from Hamas captivity, to prevent harm to future operations.
Megidish was believed to have been held alone, though other members of her unit were captured by Hamas in the October 7 onslaught. In total, at least 243 civilians and soldiers were kidnapped that day, of whom four have been released by Hamas.
The operation was planned several days in advance and it is believed that during the overnight activity, Hamas showed resistance.
However, no members of Israeli security forces were reported hurt.
Celebrations broke out in her hometown of Kiryat Gat when news of her rescue came out. There are several videos of her happy family and of residents in the area of the southern city rejoicing outside her home:
Unfortunately, not all the hostage news is good, as Hamas released a video of three captives in an apparent pressure campaign against the Jewish state. The women appeared to be unharmed but looked terrified:
The women who appeared in the video are likely to have been filmed under duress. The Geneva conventions prohibit the taking of hostages.
The video description provided by Hamas said: “A number of Zionist prisoners held by al-Qassam send a message to Netanyahu and the Zionist government.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his heart was with the three hostages:
Here is a photo of the captives:
Hamas still has over 200 hostages, held in clear violation of international law. At least they have one less today.