Pictured: Hostages freed in IDF raid as it’s revealed Israeli soldiers used their own bodies as humans shields to protect captives during gun battle with Hamas

The two men rescued by IDF soldiers who used their own bodies as human shields during a battle with Hamas in Rafah, Gaza’s last remaining city, were photographed today.

The Israeli army has said it has rescued two male hostages from captivity in the Gaza Strip – 128 days after they were kidnapped.

The two men were rescued from a residential building in the border town of Rafah during a raid that left at least seven people dead.

The military identified the two men, both Argentinian-Israelis, as Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70, and said both were in good medical condition.

Both men were kidnapped by Hamas militants from Kibbutz Nir Yizhak during the October 7 cross-border attack that started the war between Israel and Hamas.

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari this morning provided details of the raid that saved the lives of the hostages, with counter-terrorism police using their own bodies as human shields.

‘We brought Louis and Fernando back last night. This was a complex rescue operation that was under fire and based on sensitive intelligence. A professional and precise operation,” said Hagari.

“This is an operation we have been preparing for and we were waiting for the circumstances that would allow it to be carried out.”

Hagari said officers from the police’s Yamam unit, known for its counter-terrorism operations, entered a flat in Rafah where the two men were being held at 1.49am.

“The troops pulled Louis and Fernando out of the apartment and rescued them under fire until they reached the safe zone,” Hagari said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined Israel’s military chief and other top officials as the attack took place.

The hostages were held on the second floor of a building that was breached with an explosive charge during the raid, during which heavy gunfire occurred.

‘It was a very tense and moving evening. Such an operation was made possible thanks to the great sacrifice of the standing army and reserve troops who fell and were wounded during the battles. Without their sacrifice, we would not have reached this moment,” Hagari said.

The raid that rescued the Argentine-Israeli hostages took place when Argentine President Javier Milei was visiting the country. Milei was seen crying as he visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

At the same time, an airstrike was carried out to withdraw the troops, he said.

The airstrikes caused widespread panic in Rafah as many people were asleep when the attacks began, residents contacted by Reuters said.

Israeli planes, tanks and ships took part in the attacks, which residents said hit two mosques and several houses.

The Israeli military said on Monday it had carried out a “series of attacks” on southern Gaza that have now “ended”, without providing further details.

Before previous attacks on Gaza cities, the Israeli army has ordered civilians to leave without drawing up a specific evacuation plan.

President Biden told Netanyahu on Sunday that Israel should not launch a military operation in Rafah without a credible plan to guarantee the safety of the roughly 1 million people sheltering there, the White House said.

Aid groups say an attack on Rafah would be catastrophic. It is the last relatively safe place in an enclave devastated by Israel’s military offensive.

Biden and Netanyahu spoke for about 45 minutes, days after the US leader said Israel’s military response in the Gaza Strip was “overblown.”

Netanyahu’s office has said it has ordered the army to develop a plan to evacuate Rafah and destroy four Hamas battalions it says are deployed there.

Hamas militants killed an estimated 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 others in the October 7 attack that sparked the war.

More than 28,000 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air and ground offensive, according to local health officials.

More than a hundred hostages were released during a ceasefire in November. Israel says about 100 hostages remain in Hamas captivity.

Netanyahu said in an interview on Sunday that “enough” of the 132 remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza were still alive to justify Israel’s war in the region.

Hamas-run Aqsa Television on Sunday quoted a senior Hamas leader as saying that any Israeli ground offensive in Rafah would “blow up” the hostage negotiations.

Egypt warned on Sunday of the “serious consequences” of a possible Israeli military attack on Rafah, which is close to the border.

“Egypt called for the need to unite all international and regional efforts to prevent the Palestinian city of Rafah from being attacked,” the Foreign Ministry added in a statement.