Israel’s military said that keeping four prisoners safe took a lot of planning and many people. But, things didn’t go as planned. They started by destroying buildings in central Gaza and ended with violence, according to local experts.
Teams from Israel’s military, intelligence service, and a special police unit attacked two buildings on Saturday. These buildings were close together in the Nuseirat refugee camp. Intelligence reports said the prisoners were held there.
They saved four prisoners – Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv – eight months after they were taken from the Nova live event on October 7. During the operation, an Israeli police officer from the special counter-terrorism unit was killed.
Israel heavily bombed central Gaza during the operation, resulting in the deaths of over 200 Palestinians and injuring many more, according to Gaza hospital officials. CNN cannot confirm the number of casualties reported by Palestinian authorities in Gaza. Medical records in the area do not distinguish between civilians and attackers killed.
“Israeli forces had been preparing for this rescue mission for a long time. They underwent intense training,” said Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari during a press briefing.
The special operation had been in the works for months, with Israeli forces even creating models of the apartments where the prisoners were held to train, Hagari said. Previous attempts to launch such a strike had been cancelled multiple times due to unfavourable conditions.
When the time came, the IDF launched planned attacks in Gaza on what they called enemy structures, as the operation began on Saturday morning, a surprising time chosen to catch the enemy off guard.
“While facing attacks, facing attacks inside the buildings, facing attacks on the way out from Gaza, our forces rescued our prisoners,” said Hagari.
However, on the ground in Gaza, Palestinians described scenes of chaos following the strikes that indicated a rescue mission was underway. Nidal Abdo was shopping in Nuseirat on Saturday when he witnessed what he described as a “crazy siege.”[It was] something we have got in no way visible before, perhaps a hundred and fifty rockets fell in much less than 10 minutes, even as we have been jogging greater fell round us,” he said. “There are youngsters injured and scattered with inside the streets, they evacuated Nuseirat, it is awful.
Prisoner rescues are rare events: this is only the third successful operation of its kind. IDF Corporal Ori Megidish turned into rescued in October closing 12 months from northern Gaza. In each unique procedure on February 12 this year, Fernando Marman and Louis Har had been saved from southern Rafah.
Since November, intense discussions about a ceasefire and a deal to exchange prisoners for Palestinian detainees have reached a deadlock. Last month, Israel proceeded with its ground operation in central Rafah despite international criticism for its escalation in the southern Gaza city, where around 1.3 million Palestinians were seeking shelter before Israel began its operation there.
On Saturday, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas instructed the Palestinian Authority’s representative to the United Nations to request an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss what they called “a brutal massacre” by Israel in Nuseirat.
“The Israeli attack on the Nuseirat camp has resulted in the deaths of many people and left numerous others injured. President Abbas is engaged in serious discussions with important Arab and international groups to convene this urgent meeting of the UN Security Council,” a statement released by the Palestinian permanent observer mission to the UN said.
