After 9 months of war on the Gaza Strip, the occupation managed to mobilize all its military and intelligence capabilities, as well as all American Western support in particular, in search of its captives whom the resistance captured during its major and sudden attack on October 7, 2023. The attack aimed to free 4 non-military captives in an assault accompanied by intense artillery and aerial bombardment, resulting in more than 200 martyrs, most of them women and children.
The occupation named the operation “Operation Arnon,” and its leader, “Arnon Zamora,” who participated in the operation and was killed during it, was described by the Prime Minister of the occupation, Benjamin Netanyahu, as heroic. President Joe Biden also praised it, ignoring the massacre committed by the occupation and the souls of the martyrs who fell due to Israeli shelling.
Abu Ubaydah, the spokesperson for the Al-Qassam Brigades, commented for the first time on the operation, stating that the occupation committed a war crime by attacking a popular market in the middle of the Nuseirat camp and that its forces killed other captives during the operation to free the four detainees.
Operation Details
According to Israeli media reports, the four abductees were held above ground in two civilian buildings in the heart of Nuseirat in the Gaza Strip. According to Channel 12, Nourhan Alarghman (25 years old) was alone in one building, while Almuayer (21 years old), Andrei Kozlov (27 years old), and Shlomi Ze’ev (40 years old) were in another building only 200 meters away.
According to Palestinian eyewitnesses, the Israeli force involved in freeing the four captives infiltrated the Nuseirat camp using a truck used to transport humanitarian aid, as confirmed by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.
Tel Aviv has always accused the resistance of using hospitals, ambulances, medical and relief centres, and UNRWA facilities as military sites, using this as a pretext for its shelling and targeting.
According to Israeli media, “the force used a closed transport truck and a civilian vehicle in the infiltration operation into the Nuseirat camp.”
Israeli media reports say that “the force faced a complex battle, during which the group’s leader, Arnon Zamora, was seriously injured before the occupation announced his death.”
During the evacuation attempt, the vehicle carrying the occupation forces with three of the detainees was disabled by gunfire from the resistance fighters, while fighters from the 17th Brigade fired tank shells to form a belt around the besieged force, according to Channel 13.
Fighters from the 13th Fleet, a parachute patrol, and fighters from the 7th Brigade also joined by creating a fire corridor to rescue the besieged force.
The intense aerial, naval, and artillery bombardment by the occupation forces resulted in a massacre in the Nuseirat camp, killing 210 martyrs and injuring 400, while hospitals in the Gaza Strip could not receive new casualties amid continuous shelling, destruction, and a severe shortage of resources due to the ongoing blockade.
Earlier on Saturday, the Israeli army said in a statement on X: “In a complex operation involving the army, the Shin Bet, and the police (the special police unit), four Israeli abductees were rescued.”
The official Israeli broadcasting authority published a video showing the transfer of the detainees from the Nuseirat camp to a helicopter waiting for them on the Gaza beach, which later transported them to Israel.
American Assistance
CNN reported that an American cell in Israel contributed to the rescue of 4 captives from the Nuseirat camp in the Gaza Strip.
CNN quoted an American official (not named), stating that the cell “supported efforts to rescue 4 hostages and worked with Israeli forces in the liberation operation.”
President Joe Biden welcomed the return of four Israeli hostages rescued alive in Gaza.
During a press conference, Biden pledged not to stop working until all hostages returned home and to reach a ceasefire.
The American president did not mention the victims killed by the occupation during its operation.
Hamas: We will capture others
Hamas said on Saturday that Tel Aviv’s announcement of rescuing 4 of its captives in Gaza “will not change its strategic failure in the sector,” promising to increase its cost of Israeli prisoners as it did in the Jabalia camp operation in the northern Gaza Strip.
In a statement on Telegram, Hamas added that “the Nazi occupation army’s announcement of rescuing a number of its captives in Gaza, after more than 8 months of aggression using all military, security, and technological means, and committing all crimes of massacres, extermination, siege, and starvation, will not change its strategic failure in the Gaza Strip.”
It added, “Our brave resistance still has the largest number in its possession and is capable of increasing the cost of prisoners, as it did in the heroic prisoner operation in Jabalia camp at the end of last month.”
Hamas emphasized that “what American and Hebrew media revealed about American involvement in today’s criminal operation proves once again the complicit role of the American administration and its full participation in the war crimes committed in the Gaza Strip.”
It also pointed out that this also proves “the lie of the declared positions of the American administration regarding the humanitarian situation and its concern for the lives of civilians.”
The Israeli war on Gaza since October 7, 2023, has left over 120,000 Palestinians dead or wounded, mostly children and women, and nearly 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of dozens.
Israel continues this war, ignoring a Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities, and orders from the Court to stop its attack on Rafah, and take immediate measures to prevent “genocide” and “improve the humanitarian situation” in Gaza.
