Israeli forces rescue 2 hostages in Rafah and hammer the crowded city

TEL AVIV — Israel’s military hailed the rescue of two hostages overnight in Rafah, while local officials said the raid killed dozens of people in the crowded, southern Gaza Stripcity sheltering more than 1 million displaced people.

At least 67 people were killed in Israeli strikes, Palestinian Health Ministry spokesperson Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra said. An NBC News crew that has been working on the ground in Gaza since the start of the war described the bombing in the area of Shaboura camp of Rafah as a strikingly violent and deadly assault.

Strikes rained down over Rafah as Israeli forces carried out the dramatic rescue of Fernando Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70, which came amid mounting international concerns over a planned Israeli ground assault on Rafah.

Israeli forces retrieved the two Israeli men taken captive during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in a “complex” overnight operation carried out "under fire in the heart of Rafah," Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said.

The operation included a "wave of strikes" that Hagari said helped "enable the force's disengagement" and strike Hamas operatives in the area.

The strikes set off widespread panic and chaos, according to NBC News' crew on the ground, with first responders and crowds of people rushing the killed and injured into the Kuwait hospital.

In video captured by NBC News' crew, mourners cradle their loved ones wrapped in bloodied shrouds and blankets, with one man crying over another as he strokes his cheek.One child lies motionless and partially wrapped in a white shroud, her head bloodied with a deep wound. A medical worker checks for the heartbeat of another girl before shaking her head as the motionless child is carried away.

The IDF had