The UN has voiced alarm at the civilian impact of a dramatic weekend rescue of four Israeli captives in Gaza and the fact that Palestinian groups still hold hostages there, AFP reports.

“We are profoundly shocked at the impact on civilians of the Israeli forces’ operation in An Nuseirat at the weekend to secure the release of four hostages,” Jeremy Laurence, a spokesman for the UN rights office, told reporters in Geneva.

Laurence added that the agency was also “deeply distressed that Palestinian armed groups continue to hold many hostages, most of them civilians”.