Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), announced on the morning of the 12th, “After a very complex operation, we successfully rescued two men who had been kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in Nir Yitzhak.”
The place where the two hostages were held was an apartment building in the center of the city of Rafah, where the border checkpoint between Gaza and Egypt is located. It is also the southernmost point in the Gaza Strip. It is said that very reliable information was recently received that Fernando Marman (61) and Luis Har (71), who were taken by the armed terrorist group Hamas from Nir Yitzhak in southern Israel on October 7 last year, are being held in a building here. The two are in a brother-in-law and brother-in-law relationship.
Two Israeli hostages rescued in a rescue operation by Israeli police special forces on the 12th/MAARIV
However, the center of Rafa city was a place where the Israeli army had not yet entered. Additionally, Rafa is currently home to about 1.5 million Palestinian refugees who escaped Israeli military attacks from all over the Gaza Strip. Rafah is the only place in the Gaza Strip where the Israeli military has not carried out a ‘Hamas eradication operation’ so far, and the Israeli government has announced that it will soon deploy Israeli troops here as well.
“We have been preparing for this operation for quite some time, completed the necessary preparations and waited for favorable conditions for implementation,” IDF spokesman Hagari said. However, rescue operations were canceled several times at the last minute.
And just after midnight on the 12th, final approval was given. The room where the hostages were located in the second-floor apartment and the location of the Hamas member guarding them were also identified. The key was to move quickly and rescue the Israeli hostages before Hamas fighters killed them.
Prior to the full-scale rescue operation, starting at 1 a.m., Israeli Air Force fighter jets conducted dozens of airstrikes on the area near where Hamas’ Shabura Battalion was located. It was literally an operation to attack the East and West, hiding the true purpose of the operation that night.
The site where Israeli Air Force fighter jets bombed other areas of the same Rafah city dozens of times to conceal the rescue operation of two Israeli hostages in the middle of the night on the 12th. Hamas announced that about 100 Palestinians were killed in the airstrike./AFP Yonhap News
And the joint operation between the anti-terrorist police special force Yaman Force, the intelligence agency Shin Bet, and the Israeli military began at 1:49 a.m. local time (8:49 a.m. Korean time). Police special forces who secretly infiltrated the building subdued three Hamas members and began escaping the building, protecting two hostages with their bodies. However, as bullets from Hamas members rained down from nearby buildings, the commandos reportedly engaged in fierce simultaneous combat.
At 1:50 a.m., Israeli Air Force planes launched from the Southern Command of the Israeli Army provided support fire and suppressed the terrorists in a nearby building. Israeli Navy commandos and the 7th Armored Brigade provided cover for the rescuers.
The two people who were rescued in the early morning of this day were taken to the emergency room of the Sheba Medical Center in southern Israel via an Israeli military helicopter an hour after the start of the operation. Here, I met three family members, including Louis Haar’s wife Clara, Clara’s younger sister Gabriela, and Gabriela’s daughter 17-year-old Mia Riemberg, who were released earlier following a hostage/prisoner exchange at the end of November last year. Family members and the hospital said the two released male hostages appeared to be in good health.
In the operation that day, only one Israeli person was slightly injured and there were no casualties. Israel announced that “approximately 100 Hamas terrorists were eliminated during the operation.”
This operation was the second successful operation for the Israeli military, following the rescue of Ori Megidish (18), an Israeli female soldier, on October 30 last year. On December 8 last year, the Israeli military attempted to rescue a male hostage (25), but the hostage was killed during the operation.
The Israeli side said that in addition to the Director of Security, the IDF Chief of Staff, the Chief of Police, the head of the military intelligence agency, and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant joined the situation room all night long and watched the operation unfold.
“Even as we celebrate the successful rescue operation this morning, we do not forget that there are still 134 hostages held in Gaza,” said IDF spokesman Hagari. “If you hostages can hear me, I want you to know that we will make sure you come home,” he said. “We will not give up any opportunity to do that.”
It is estimated that 245 Israeli hostages were taken in a surprise attack by the Gaza terrorist group Hamas on October 7 last year. Of these, excluding the 105 released at the end of November, about 140 remain, some of whom have already died. Israeli troops who advanced into the Gaza Strip discovered the bodies of 11 hostages, and three hostages were killed by Israeli military friendly fire.
Meanwhile, the Hamas health ministry said that the number of Palestinians in Gaza who have died as a result of Israeli military attacks has so far reached 28,000, including children and women. Israel claims it includes thousands of Hamas members, but Hamas does not make a distinction.
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2024-02-12 09:38:03
