Jerusalem, June 9 (IANS): Israeli Wartime Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz postponed his expected resignation announcement following a rescue operation in the Gaza Strip in which four Israeli hostages were released.

On May 18, Gantz announced that he would resign from the government on June 8 if the cabinet did not formulate an action plan to secure goals, including the return of the hostages held in Gaza and the defeat of Hamas, Xinhua news agency reported.

The rescue operation was carried out by Israeli forces in collaboration with the police's elite National Counter Terror Unit and the Israel Security Agency, while at least 94 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes in the same area.

The hostages, 25-year-old Noa Argamani, Shlomi Ziv, 40, Almog Meir Jan, 21, and Andrey Kozlov, 27, were abducted while attending the Nova festival, an outdoor music event in a rural area near the Gaza-Israel fence.

The Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said that the four were located in proper medical condition in two buildings at the heart of Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp.