Israel says two hostages rescued in Rafah operation

RAFAH - Israel announced on Monday the rescue of two hostages in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where the Hamas-run health ministry said "around 100" Palestinians including children were killed in heavy overnight air strikes.

Israel is preparing for a ground incursion into the teeming city along the border with Egypt, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought refuge from fighting further north.

The precarious humanitarian situation in Rafah has prompted aid groups and foreign governments, including Israel's key ally the United States, to express deep concern over the potentially disastrous consequences of expanding operations there.

The Israeli military announced early Monday morning that two hostages had been rescued in a joint military, Shin Bet and police operation in Rafah after nearly 130 days in captivity.

In a statement, the army identified the two as Fernando Simon Marman and Louis Har, saying they "were kidnapped by the Hamas terrorist organization on October 7th from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak". Both were in "good medical condition", it added.

"The military and the Shin Bet have been working on this operation for a long time... and they waited until the conditions were right to carry it out," army spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a briefing.

A firefight broke out as the hostages were being taken out of the building they were held in, he added, with air strikes targeting nearby buildings where shots were fired. 

"Many terrorists were killed this evening during this operation and one of our fighters was slightly injured," he said.