Israel-Gaza updates: Nasser Hospital no longer 'functional,' WHO chief says

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday hailed the military's announcement that two Israeli hostages were rescued from the war-torn Gaza Strip.

"Fernando and Louis, welcome home," Netanyahu said in a statement. "I salute our brave fighters for the daring action that led to their release. Only continued military pressure, until total victory, will bring about the release of all of our hostages."

"We will not miss any opportunity to bring them home," he added.

The two hostages -- Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70 -- were among those kidnapped in southwestern Israel and taken across the border to Gaza amid the Hamas-led Oct. 7 terror attack. They were rescued during a special operation in Rafah in southern Gaza early Monday, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

-ABC News' Jordana Miller and Morgan Winsor

Members of the Israeli forces that saved two hostages from Rafah, shielded the hostages from gunfire with their own bodies during the rescue operation, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari told reporters during a briefing early Monday morning.

"Police SWAT team members protected the hostages with their own bodies" during the firefight that ensued when Israeli forces entered the room where the hostages were being held, Hagari said.

The rescue operation began at 1:49 a.m. local time on Monday, when IDF forces "breached the building," he said. Armed Hamas militants were on the second floor, Hagari told reporters.

Israeli forces had been preparing for the operation to save the two hostages "for a while," Hagari said.

-ABC News' Dana Savir

Two male hostages were rescued from Gaza, the IDF said in a briefing early Monday morning local time. The hostages are both alive and in "good medical condition," the IDF said in a release.

The two hostages -- Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70 -- are back in Israel and were brought to Sheba Tel Hashomer hospital, the IDF said. They were both kidnapped by Hamas from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on Oct. 7.

The special operation to rescue the two hostages from Rafah in Gaza started around 1 a.m. local time, IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht told reporters during a briefing early Monday morning.

"The two hostages were rescued from the second floor of a residential building in Rafah," Hecht said. The forces breached the building "with a charge," Hecht said.

Hecht added that air cover was provided, and there was also fire to the surrounding buildings.

-ABC News' Dana Savir

The IDF said Sunday it had conducted strikes on what it called "terror targets" in the area of Al-Shabura in the southern Gaza Strip.

According to ABC News' reporter in Gaza, the airstrikes by military aircraft and helicopters targeted homes and mosques in several areas of the city of Rafah, resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries.

At least 63 people were killed and dozens were injured as a result of the Israeli bombing of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health said.

Also Sunday, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a post on X that nine of their staff and some patients were arrested at Al-Amal hospital in Khan Yunis.

"This incident took place as the displaced were evacuated from Al-Amal Hospital, which continues to be besieged for the twenty-first day in a row," PRCS said in the post.

The IDF, however, said in a release Sunday they arrested a group of "terrorists" that were hiding in Al-Amal Hospital.

(Editor's note -- Al-Shabura is Rafah)

-ABC News' Sami Zayara and Victoria Beaule