“[O]ne of the most heroic and extraordinary operations I have witnessed over the course of 47 years serving in Israel’s defense establishment.”
—How Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant described the June 8 rescue of four hostages who were being held in Gaza
In a time of suffering, good news is always welcome. With Israel fighting a war with relentless casualties—another 11 soldiers were killed over the weekend—and an estimated 116 hostages still being held captive in Gaza, every bit of good news is a pinpoint of light.
The tidal wave of emotion after the rescue of four hostages—Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv—was mostly happiness for the individuals themselves, but it also was a moment for positivity in general. The great outpouring of interest in every aspect of their rescue and their reunions with their families was a sign of both of those things.
One of the strangest aspects of the operation, however, was how openly shared many of its details were. With many more hostages still in the clutches of our enemies, why have the Israelis been so transparent about the way these four captives were brought back home?
Going inside Gaza
The IDF has released a number of videos of the hostages being rescued from the homes in which they were being held. But the degree of specificity about the lead-up to the operation is surprising.
The basics are that at 11:00 a.m.—an unusual move taking place during daylight hours—two Israeli teams, including members of the police Yamam counter-terrorism unit and the Shin Bet, raided two buildings in the Nuseirat neighborhood of the Gaza Strip. Noa Argamani was being held in one building and the three male hostages were being held in the other, all of them with Hamas-involved families.
In the course of the rescue of the three men, Hamas fighters were alerted to the effort and began a massive barrage against the Israeli forces. That led to the disabling of one of the vehicles the Israelis were planning on using to get the hostages to safety, and it required that the IDF start bombing Hamas targets even as massive firepower was being directed at the rescue teams.
(Hamas was later able to come out with yet another libelous narrative against Israel, accusing it of having killed numerous civilians in the raid. Beyond the fact that many of the people Hamas claims were civilians were actually fighters, pro-Hamas stooges in the West failed to note that Hamas’ own bullets, grenades and rockets also kill civilians. Israel has said it knows of fewer than 100 Palestinians who died, while Hamas has claimed that over 200 people were killed.)
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