{"id":68792,"date":"2024-06-09T00:10:06","date_gmt":"2024-06-09T00:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/09\/heres-how-israels-mission-to-rescue-four-hostages-unfolded\/"},"modified":"2024-06-09T00:10:06","modified_gmt":"2024-06-09T00:10:06","slug":"heres-how-israels-mission-to-rescue-four-hostages-unfolded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/09\/heres-how-israels-mission-to-rescue-four-hostages-unfolded\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s How Israel\u2019s Mission to Rescue Four Hostages Unfolded"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"549\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/08\/multimedia\/08live-israel-nuseirat-op-qhtw\/08live-israel-nuseirat-op-qhtw-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,549&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Here\u2019s How Israel\u2019s Mission to Rescue Four Hostages Unfolded\" title=\"Here\u2019s How Israel\u2019s Mission to Rescue Four Hostages Unfolded\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israeli troops have swept through much of Gaza since their ground invasion began in late October. But they have managed to rescue only seven living hostages in three separate military operations, with roughly 120 captives remaining in Gaza. Several proposed rescue missions did not go forward for fear that the hostages or the forces would die in the process, according to two Israeli defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive operation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In December, Israeli special forces tried to rescue a hostage from Hamas captivity, according to the two defense officials. Sahar Baruch, an Israeli hostage, was <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/01\/04\/world\/middleeast\/israel-hamas-rules-of-engagement-hostages.html\" title=\"\">killed during the exchange of fire<\/a> and two Israeli officers were seriously wounded.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">According to one of the defense officials, Israeli intelligence first learned that Ms. Argamani was being held in an aboveground building near the market area of Nuseirat. More information received later indicated that three other hostages were in another building in the same section, the official added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, Israel\u2019s military spokesman, said Israeli officers had worked for weeks to assemble the necessary pieces for the mission. Israeli soldiers trained intensively based on models of the buildings where the hostages were believed to be held, he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThis was a mission in the heart of a civilian neighborhood, where Hamas had intentionally hidden among homes where there were civilians and armed militants guarding the hostages,\u201d Admiral Hagari said. \u201cAnd we must act in a way that brings those hostages home alive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Over the past three weeks, there were several occasions when it seemed possible to carry out the operation, but all of the attempts were canceled, before Israeli forces were set to launch the mission, the two Israeli defense officials said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defense minister, met with senior defense officials again to discuss the operation\u2019s risks and the possible scenarios, said a third Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The country\u2019s leaders greenlit the rescue mission that night, the official said. But it still stood a chance of being canceled at the last minute, Admiral Hagari said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Saturday morning, Herzi Halevi, the military\u2019s chief of staff, and Ronen Bar, the director of Israel\u2019s Shin Bet intelligence service, both gave the final go-ahead just a few minutes before the operation started around 11 a.m., Admiral Hagari said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He added that they chose to move in the daylight, bearing down on the two buildings in Nuseirat, in an attempt to catch Hamas off guard since the armed group might expect such an operation to take place at night.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The raid started simultaneously in both buildings, where the hostages were in locked rooms surrounded by armed guards, Admiral Hagari said. In one building \u2014 where Ms. Argamani was being held \u2014 the officers managed to take her Hamas captors by surprise, he said. In the other, Israeli forces engaged in a difficult firefight before reaching the remaining three hostages, he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As they recovered the captives, the officers announced by radio that \u201cthe diamonds are in our hands,\u201d using an assigned code word, Admiral Hagari said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">They exited the buildings with Hamas militants shooting at them and firing rocket-propelled grenades, Admiral Hagari said. The officers shielded the hostages with their bodies to try to protect them, and Israeli aircraft struck in and around the area, targeting the militants, he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Khalil Daqran, a local official at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah, told reporters that many Palestinians were killed and wounded during strikes near the Nuseirat market, which he said had been packed with passers-by.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Admiral Hagari said that he had been told the military was aware of Palestinian casualties resulting from the operation, and that he could not confirm how many were militants. He added that Hamas had sought to fire at Israeli forces from behind civilians.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He added that \u201cthe cynical way that Hamas is using the population also to fire at our forces\u201d was \u201ctragic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The hostages were taken by car to two awaiting helicopters, Admiral Hagari said. One carried Ms. Argamani and the special forces officers. The second ferried the three remaining hostages and an injured police commander, who would later die from his wounds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Around 1:30 p.m., the Israeli government announced that the four hostages were home.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/08\/world\/middleeast\/israel-mission-hostages-nuseirat.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Israeli troops have swept through much of Gaza since their ground invasion began in late October. But they have managed to rescue only seven living hostages in three separate military operations, with roughly 120 captives remaining in Gaza. Several proposed rescue missions did not go forward for fear that the hostages or the forces would [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/08\/multimedia\/08live-israel-nuseirat-op-qhtw\/08live-israel-nuseirat-op-qhtw-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[671,193,5558,9945,4258,43830],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68792"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68792"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68794,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68792\/revisions\/68794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}