Amir Bar Shalom
Times of Israel, June 9, 2024
“The question now is how Saturday’s successful rescue will affect the negotiations to release the 120 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza. Right now, these talks are on hold as all sides wait for Hamas’s response to the latest Israeli proposal for a deal, approved by the war cabinet and detailed by US President Joe Biden.”
The operation to rescue Noa Argamani, Shlomi Ziv, Almog Meir Jan and Andrey Kozlov from their captivity at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip was postponed four times late last week and into the weekend. The initial go-ahead was given on Thursday evening, but the special forces waited for intelligence and operational maturity – before finally, at 11 a.m. on Saturday, they were given the green light.
For the third time since October 7, Israel’s security forces achieved an intelligence and operational success worthy of appreciation and praise. This had happened on October 28, 2023, with the rescue of Ori Megidish in the heart of Gaza Strip; on May 1, with the rescue of Louis Har and Fernando Marman from the Shaboura refugee camp in Rafah; and then, on Saturday, in Nuseirat.
But as successful as this latest operation was, and as welcome the burst of joy and the importance to national morale, it is doubtful that it will serve as a turning point. It is likely, indeed, that Hamas has rushed to tighten security around the other hostages, and perhaps moved them to new hiding places.
Every rescue operation needs to be planned to the smallest detail. In the case of Saturday’s, the planning spanned weeks – and, during that time, several acts of diversion were apparently taken.
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