On 8 June 2024, the Israeli military rescued four hostages from the Nuseirat refugee camp, and, during the operation, killed at least 276 Palestinians and injured over 698. Due to the high death toll, some sources have referred to the operation as a massacre, and one of the largest massacres of the Gaza war.

During the operation, the Israeli military called in an intense air, sea, and ground attack. The operation successfully recovered four hostages taken during the October 7 attacks – Noa Argamani, Shlomi Ziv, Almog Meir Jan, and Andrey Kozlov—from two multi-story residential apartment buildings in Nuseirat, who were held there by Hamas. The operation also killed at least 274 Palestinians were killed in the camp, including 64 children and 57 women, with at least 698 people reported injured, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. One Israeli officer was seriously injured and later died from his injuries. According to Hamas, Israel also killed three hostages, including one who was a dual Israeli-American citizen, during the operation, Israel denied this.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described the events as a "bloodbath." The OHCHR said that both Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups may have committed war crimes.

The Nuseirat refugee camp was established in the Gaza Strip after the Palestinians were expelled or fled from Israel during the 1948 Palestine war. Israel began its occupation of the Gaza Strip in 1967, and since 2007, the area has been under Israeli air and naval blockade. On 7 October 2023, the Qassam Brigades (the militant wing of the Hamas party) launched an attack on Israel. As part of the attack, in which other Palestinian militant groups were also involved, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian militant groups kidnapped 251 Israeli civilians and soldiers. This attack led to the Gaza war.

The Nuseirat refugee camp is a long-standing UNRWA refugee camp located in the middle of the Gaza Strip, in Deir al-Balah. The camp has been repeatedly bombed during the Israel-Hamas war, with over a hundred Palestinians killed in the attacks. The most recent attack on the camp occurred only days before the rescue operation, with IDF forces striking the UNRWA school in the camp, killing at least 33 people. The deceased classification are contested with Gaza sources reporting a number of women and children were in the death toll, while the IDF said the deceased included Hamas Nukhba and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants.

This operation was the third known successful hostage rescue carried out by the IDF since the start of the war. IDF Corporal Ori Megidish was rescued in October 2023 from the northern part of the Gaza Strip, and two male hostages were rescued in February 2024 from southern Rafah. Additionally, a number of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners were exchanged in 2023.

All four hostages rescued had been abducted from the Re'im music festival, and were identified as Noa Argamani (26-years-old), Almog Meir Jan (22-years-old), Andrey Kozlov (27-years-old), and Shlomi Ziv (41-years-old). Both Argamani and Meir Jan were festival goers while Kozlov, a recent immigrant from Russia, and Ziv had been employed as security guards for the festival.

Argamani was shown in one of the initial videos released by Hamas documenting the massacre. She was seen being taken away on a motorcycle while yelling, "Don't kill me!" Her arms are outstretched towards her boyfriend, Avinatan Or, who was also being kidnapped. This footage became emblematic of the hostage crisis, leading to Argamani being described as "the face of the Nova music festival hostages." Argamani's family had indications that she was alive, as she appeared in a Hamas video released in January 2024.