While the media are decrying the collateral damage during an Israeli mission to rescue four of the missing hostages kidnapped by Hamas, the same media are avoiding any mention that the hostages were not found in underground tunnels. The four Israeli hostages rescued were held in houses amid a high-density Palestinian population.
The Israeli forces launched a blitz of rockets and firepower into the areas while the rescue raid was ongoing. Hundreds of Hamas and Palestinian supporters of Hamas were reportedly killed in the rescue operation. One Israeli IDF member was killed, four hostages were rescued.
(Via Politico) – […] The army said it rescued Noa Argamani, 25; Almog Meir Jan, 21; Andrey Kozlov, 27; and Shlomi Ziv, 40, in two separate locations in a complex special daytime operation in the heart of Nuseirat in central Gaza.
Argamani has been one of the most widely recognized hostages since she was abducted from a music festival in southern Israel. The video of her abduction was among the first to surface, images of her horrified face widely shared — Argamani detained between two men on a motorcycle, one arm outstretched and the other held down as she screams “Don’t kill me!”
Her mother, Liora, has stage four brain cancer and in April released a video pleading to see her daughter before she dies.
Hamas killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped some 250 hostages during the Oct. 7 attack, which triggered the Israel-Hamas war. About half were released in a weeklong cease-fire in November. Israel says more than 130 hostages remain, with about a quarter of those believed dead, and divisions are deepening in the country over the best way to bring them home. (read more)
The Washington Post reported, “IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces had prepared for weeks for the “high risk, complex mission,” which was “based on precise intelligence” and began at 11 a.m. local time Saturday. The forces came under fire inside the two buildings where the hostages were held and while leaving Gaza, he said, adding that one member of the Yamam, the Israeli police counterterrorism unit, was seriously injured during the operation. The Israeli police later announced Chief Inspector Arnon Zmora died of his wounds.”
