By Nawarit @Adobe Stock
A Risky, Unusual Tactic
In a move that brought a rare moment of exhilaration – Saturday’s rescue of four Israeli hostages – the joy was palatable in a country that has been traumatized by Hamas’s 7 October terrorist attack. According to the WSJ, before Saturday, Israeli military had rescued only three hostages of the 240 taken and held in Gaza.
Under Cover in Broad Daylight
It’s not unusual for a certain genre to open with something like, “under cover of darkness.” Not this time, brother. As the WSJ reports, the “searing midday sun afforded Israeli commanders the element of surprise.” Israeli military feared that Hamas guards would kill the four hostages as soon as they detected the specialist Israeli counterterrorism teams approaching.
But if they could pull it off, salutes the WSJ, it would assure Israel a “big psychological boost in a war that has been turning into a quagmire while steadily isolating the country from the rest of the world.”
Timeline: 11:25 am (local time, Saturday):
- The Israeli military’s Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi was watching the situation from a command center of the Shin Bet security agency and gave the order to go.
- Israeli teams overwhelmed the captors hunkered down in two apartment blocks in Nuseirat, in the center of the Gaza Strip, The teams came under fire as they left the buildings, leading to a street battle before the soldiers extracted the four hostages via helicopters on the beach.
Comparing with Israel’s most famous hostage rescue—the 1976 raid at the Entebbe airport in Uganda, when Israeli special forces saved dozens of hostages taken by Palestinian hijackers, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari describes the elaborate operation.
For months, a small team of U.S. military personnel has been helping the Israeli search for hostages, using drones. Before Saturday’s raid, 120 people taken on Oct. 7 remained captive in Gaza; many are believed to have died.
In May, Israel located the female hostage Noa Argamani in a low-rise dapartment block in Nuseirat, central Gaza, and three male hostages in another building about 200 yards away: Almog Meir Jan, Andrei Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv.
The Gazan families residing in the civilian apartments were present there, together with the Hamas captors and their prisoners.
Raiding only one building would alert captors at the other location, so the Israelis decided to raid both buildings simultaneously.
Rear Admiral Hagari declined to say whether the officers were disguised as Palestinian civilians, a tactic that Israeli special forces have previously used. Hagari also declined to comment on whether the U.S. provided intelligence or support for Saturday’s rescue operation, reports the WSJ:
- The Israeli police’s counterterrorist unit, Yamam, trained for the raid on models of the two buildings, Hagari said. The unit reached central Gaza from Israel, he said, and denied rumors that it had arrived via the U.S.-built pier designed for aid delivery.
- Once the order to proceed was given, the Israeli air force struck a preplanned list of Hamas targets in Nuseirat, creating cover for the rescue raid. Ground forces from Israel’s paratroopers division stood ready to support the operation.
- The Yamam commandos reached the apartment entrances undetected, the families of the hostages told Israeli TV later.
- One Yamam team stormed the first-floor apartment where Argamani was held and took the captors by surprise, according to the military.
- On the third floor of the other building, a gunfight with the guards broke out. The Yamam squad leader, Arnon Zamora, was hit and later died of his wounds.
- But the hostages were alive. “We have the diamonds in our hands,” the commandos radioed to the command center.
- Leaving the buildings, the teams came under fire from Hamas fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades, Hagari said. He accused Hamas of deliberately firing at the Israelis from streets full of civilians.
- Israeli airstrikes and ground forces hit the militants. The many dead likely included both fighters and bystanders.
- Video footage shared by the military showed a CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter loading soldiers and hostages before whisking them off the beach. Tears and relief awaited them in Israel. In Gaza, more anger and smoldering rubble.
Hostages amongst Civilians
One Israeli officer was fatally wounded. The Israeli military said about 100 Palestinians were killed or wounded, including Hamas militants and civilians caught in the crossfire. In contradiction with Israeli reporting, Gaza “Health Ministry” reported 210 Palestinians were killed and 400 wounded.
Meanwhile, according to an unrelated article in the WSJ, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top political rival quit the government on Sunday, in a move aimed at toppling his coalition.
In a blow to the appearance of unity, Benny Gantz, who leads the centrist National Unity party and was one cabinet members, said he was leaving the government due to a lack of long-term strategy for the war in Gaza, among other reasons.
But the strategy risked backfiring by empowering hawkish lawmakers less aligned with the Biden administration as Washington makes a renewed push to end the war in Gaza and free hostages held there.
The Israeli government shake-up comes as U.S. and Israeli officials are set to renew a push to strike a deal with Hamas to free hostages and halt the war, reports the WSJ.
But after an Israeli military operation rescued four captives Saturday, Israel’s strategic position in Gaza remains little changed, while the fallout may give both sides reason to harden their positions.
Israel’s Official Position
Military pressure is what will ultimately force Hamas to agree to a deal that Israel can accept, meaning that the U.S.-designated terrorist organization will no longer rule Gaza nor constitute an active threat to Israel once the war is over.
According to Minister Israel Katz, Israel’s policy has not changed. it will continue to press Hamas militarily and pursue any avenue to free hostages, while it also pursues a diplomatic solution to achieve its aims.
The Final Word
According to Yohanan Plesner, president of the Jerusalem-based Israel Democracy Institute think tank, says the rescue operation “has no strategic implications in terms of the grand scheme of things.”
The Israeli military does not share the view of hardline National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s social-media posts: “There’s hope, and it’s possible to defeat our enemies and return the hostages without giving in.”
Rear Adm. Hagari recognizes that they cannot free all the hostages. That’s why he promises to do whatever necessary to release the hostages. Israel is facing many challenges, including a war with Lebanon.
No Guarantee War Will End
“Alongside the justified joy, we must remember that all of the challenges Israel was dealing with…still remain,” Gantz said Saturday.
In a news conference, President Biden a week ago stated that releasing the hostages is unacceptable for Hamas because, in the group’s eyes, it doesn’t guarantee an end to the war.
The Grand Bargain
Netanyahu is not pleased with the way the proposal has been characterized by Biden. He argues, “the outline allows for Israel to renew the war if it believes later-stage negotiations to reach a cease-fire are proving futile.”
“There’s sufficient ambiguity in the wording for both sides to take a deal,” said Plesner. The big picture?
“… in order to get the hostages, you need a grand bargain.”
Hamas-led militants kidnapped about 240 people on Oct. 7; 120 remain in captivity. It is believed about a third of those captives are dead.
Netanyahu, urging Gantz to stay, cited the existential nature of Israel’s war on multiple fronts:
“Israel is in an existential war on several fronts. Benny, this is not the time to abandon the campaign — this is the time to unite forces. My door will remain open to any Zionist party willing to shoulder the gurney and help bringing about victory over our enemies and ensuring our citizens’ safety.”
