{"id":69134,"date":"2024-06-09T15:34:04","date_gmt":"2024-06-09T15:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/09\/israels-euphoria-over-hostage-rescue-may-be-fleeting-2\/"},"modified":"2024-06-09T15:34:04","modified_gmt":"2024-06-09T15:34:04","slug":"israels-euphoria-over-hostage-rescue-may-be-fleeting-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/09\/israels-euphoria-over-hostage-rescue-may-be-fleeting-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s Euphoria Over Hostage Rescue May Be Fleeting"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"549\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/09\/multimedia\/09mideast-assess-01-cjkp\/09mideast-assess-01-cjkp-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,549&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Israel\u2019s Euphoria Over Hostage Rescue May Be Fleeting\" title=\"Israel\u2019s Euphoria Over Hostage Rescue May Be Fleeting\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For months, Israelis had heard only about hostages being killed or declared dead in Gaza. The \u201clucky\u201d families were those whose loved ones\u2019 remains were retrieved by soldiers, at great risk, and brought home to Israel for burial.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">So the audacious rescue on Saturday of four living hostages instantly raised morale in Israel and offered at least a momentary victory for the country\u2019s embattled prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But by Sunday, euphoria was already giving way to a harsher reality. The heavy air and ground assault that accompanied the rescue killed scores of Palestinians, including civilians, according to Gaza health officials, puncturing Israel\u2019s claims that the operation was a resounding success, at least internationally. And the operation failed to resolve any of the deep dilemmas and challenges vexing the Israeli government, according to analysts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Eight months into its grinding war in Gaza, Israel still appears to be far from achieving its stated objectives of dismantling Hamas\u2019s military and governing capabilities. And Israelis fear that time is running out for many of the hostages in Gaza. About a third of the 120 that remain have already been declared dead by Israeli authorities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At the same time, Israel\u2019s leadership is grappling with an escalation of hostilities across the northern border with Lebanon and battling increasing international isolation and opprobrium over the war in Gaza, including <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/01\/12\/world\/middleeast\/israel-genocide-icj-south-africa-explained.html?searchResultPosition=3\" title=\"\">allegations of genocide<\/a> that are being heard by the International Court of Justice in The Hague.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The rescue mission \u201cdoesn\u2019t solve a single one of the problems that Israel has been facing ever since Oct. 7,\u201d Nahum Barnea, a leading Israeli political columnist, wrote in the popular Yediot Ahronot newspaper on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt doesn\u2019t solve the problem in the north; it doesn\u2019t solve the problem in Gaza; and it doesn\u2019t solve the slew of other problems that threaten Israel in the international arena,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The stability of Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s government is hanging in the balance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Pressure has been building on the Israeli government to reach a deal with Hamas for the release of all the remaining hostages. But the fate of Israel\u2019s proposal for a truce and a hostage and prisoner swap, as <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/01\/world\/middleeast\/netanyahu-biden-israel-gaza-cease-fire.html?searchResultPosition=12\" title=\"\">outlined by President Biden<\/a> more than a week ago, is still uncertain. The Biden administration and Israeli officials say they are still awaiting a formal response from Hamas to determine whether negotiations can resume.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israelis are now debating whether the hostage rescue operation will help or hinder the prospects for such a deal \u2014 one that, should it go ahead, could <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/02\/world\/middleeast\/netanyahu-biden-truce-proposal.html?searchResultPosition=1\" title=\"\">threaten Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s hold on power<\/a>, with those on the far right in his ruling coalition vowing to quit and bring down his government.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The rescue of the four hostages is likely to bolster the arguments of those who say that Israeli military pressure on Hamas and continued ground operations in Gaza are necessary to bring the rest of the hostages home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But for many Israelis and relatives of the scores of remaining hostages, the return of only four crystallized the obvious \u2014 that such complex military operations can probably only save a few of them and come at great risk to the military.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Israeli news media has paid scant attention to the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/live\/2024\/06\/08\/world\/israel-gaza-war-hamas\/a-gazan-health-official-says-scores-are-dead-as-israel-carries-out-intense-bombardments?smid=url-share\" title=\"\">heavy death toll<\/a> reported by officials in Gaza as a result of the rescue operation. Neither the Israeli military nor Palestinian health officials provided a breakdown of civilians and combatants killed in the raid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The military\u2019s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, made clear the limits of what the military could do in a briefing with reporters on Saturday, saying of the remaining hostages, \u201cWe know that we can\u2019t do operations in order to rescue all of them because there aren\u2019t always the conditions that allow that.\u201d The largest number of hostages to have been released \u2014 over a hundred \u2014 were freed under an earlier deal for a temporary cease-fire and a hostage and prisoner swap in November.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The operation also underscored Israel\u2019s predicament: Without forces on the ground, the military would not be able to conduct any such rescue operation or continue to dismantle Hamas\u2019s capabilities. But Hamas has made any progress on a hostage deal conditional on an Israeli commitment for a permanent cease-fire and the full withdrawal of its troops from Gaza.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For Hamas \u2014 which lost four of its remaining bargaining chips on Saturday \u2014 the deadly Israeli operation could harden its position. The group hinted that the rescue operation could make things worse for the remaining captives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe operation will pose a great danger to the enemy\u2019s prisoners and will have a negative impact on their conditions and lives,\u201d the spokesman for the group\u2019s military wing, Abu Obeida, said in a statement on Saturday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Experts said some of the remaining hostages might now be moved from civilian apartment buildings, like those that housed the four who were rescued on Saturday, to harsher conditions in underground tunnels where they will be harder to reach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cHamas will try to draw lessons\u201d from the operation and take more precautions to keep the hostages inaccessible, said Avi Kalo, an Israeli lieutenant colonel in the reserves and a former head of the military intelligence department focused on soldiers missing in action.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cFor Hamas this is not a turning point,\u201d he said, adding that the group still held plenty of hostages. \u201cFour less is not something that changes the reality dramatically,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some Israelis were comparing Saturday\u2019s high stakes operation to the fabled <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/timesmachine.nytimes.com\/timesmachine\/1976\/07\/04\/118454075.html?pageNumber=1\" title=\"\">Entebbe raid<\/a> of nearly 50 years ago, when Israeli commandos rescued more than a hundred mostly Israeli hostages being held in Uganda by pro-Palestinian airplane hijackers. Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s brother, Yonatan, the commander of that raid, was killed during the mission.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Netanyahu himself sought to link the two on Sunday, announcing that just as the Entebbe raid was retroactively named Operation Yonatan, in his brother\u2019s memory, the government had approved the military\u2019s proposal to name Saturday\u2019s raid \u201cOperation Arnon,\u201d in honor of Arnon Zamora, the Israeli police commando who was killed in a firefight during the mission in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Many Israelis had already accused Mr. Netanyahu, whose approval ratings plummeted after Oct. 7, of trying to capitalize on the rescue by rushing to greet the freed hostages at the hospital near Tel Aviv where they were recuperating and reuniting with their families.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">His office then issued reams of photographs and video clips from the hospital, where Mr. Netanyahu also made a public statement, breaking the customary avoidance of government activity on the Jewish Sabbath.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Relatives of hostages who have not returned said they had not received any such personal attention from the prime minister. Avi Marciano, whose daughter Noa, a soldier, was abducted on Oct. 7 and killed in Gaza, wrote in a Facebook <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/avi.marciano1\/posts\/pfbid029kekKhJW3N3q7RQeTPTD3LXD5N3BuRMzSTPGS6fvEDzmd6gUY7KcUg1KPhqtRQmzl\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">post<\/a> on Saturday that in the six months since her death was announced, \u201cThe prime minister hasn\u2019t come. He hasn\u2019t called either.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One bellwether of evolving government policy, or the lack of it, was the pending decision of Benny Gantz, a former military chief and Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s main political rival, whether to pull his centrist National Unity party out of the emergency wartime government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Gantz joined the government soon after Oct. 7 out of what he said was a sense of national responsibility and became a key member of Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s war cabinet. Three weeks ago he issued an ultimatum, saying he would withdraw from the government by June 8 unless Mr. Netanyahu charted a clear and strategic path forward, including making decisions and plans for how to release the remaining hostages in Gaza and for the postwar governance of the territory, among other issues.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Gantz had planned to address the nation on Saturday night, but because of the hostage rescue he postponed his highly anticipated announcement by 24 hours. His party\u2019s departure would not immediately bring the government down; Mr. Netanyahu and his remaining partners would still command a majority in Parliament.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But it would send a clear signal that even after Saturday\u2019s dramatic raid, not much has changed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/09\/world\/middleeast\/netanyahu-israel-gaza.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For months, Israelis had heard only about hostages being killed or declared dead in Gaza. The \u201clucky\u201d families were those whose loved ones\u2019 remains were retrieved by soldiers, at great risk, and brought home to Israel for burial. So the audacious rescue on Saturday of four living hostages instantly raised morale in Israel and offered [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69135,"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\/09\/multimedia\/09mideast-assess-01-cjkp\/09mideast-assess-01-cjkp-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[15257,33579,8042,5558,4258],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69134"}],"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=69134"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69136,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69134\/revisions\/69136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}