Unprecedented Operation 'Arnon': How Four Israeli Hostages Were Rescued from Gaza?

Thousands of Israelis celebrated after the news of the release of four hostages in Gaza following an Israeli commando operation, which Israeli media described as 'more daring' than the plan to rescue hostages from a hijacked airplane 48 years ago at Uganda's Entebbe Airport. This commando operation took place on June 9 in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza and was initially named 'Summer Fruit' but was later renamed 'Operation Arnon' in memory of its fallen commander, Arnon Zamora. Sources linked to the extremist group Hamas, which is recognized as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the EU, reported the deaths of 274 Palestinians during this operation. Israel emphasized that the number of Palestinian casualties was much lower and occurred due to heavy fire directed at the vehicle carrying the rescued hostages and the wounded commander of the operation. The rescue of the four Israeli hostages in this recent operation is considered Israel's most successful program in the costly Gaza war that began nine months ago following an attack by the extremist group Hamas on southern Israel. Images of the four Israeli hostages freed by the army on June 9 have been widely circulated. Reports over the past two days in Israeli media and Arabic-speaking networks in the Middle East, or based on statements from Palestinians in Nuseirat, depict some stages of 'Operation Arnon': The Ground Floor Apartment. Israel had long been aware that Hamas was hiding 26-year-old Noa Argamani in an apartment on the ground floor of a building near the Nuseirat camp market. Noa was kidnapped along with her fiancé, Avinatan Or, on October 15 of last year while attending the Nova music festival during the initial hours of Hamas's surprise attack on Israeli territory. The video of her abduction, where a group of attackers took Noa away on a motorcycle while she screamed for help from her kidnapped fiancé, became a symbol of Hamas's actions in abducting and transferring 253 Israeli hostages into Gaza. Noa's mother, of Chinese descent, suffers from advanced cancer and had repeatedly urged Israeli leaders and the international community to help her see her daughter one last time before her condition worsened. The destruction left in Nuseirat, Gaza, a day after the operation to rescue the four Israeli hostages on June 9, Hamas released two videos of Noa Argamani. In one of the videos, she angrily reported the deaths of two male hostages months earlier. The second video, released last week, did not show Noa's face but contained her voice, in which she called on the Israeli people to help increase pressure on the Israeli government to negotiate with Hamas. In that video, behind her voice, were paintings she had created during the eight months. Her father confirmed that he recognized his daughter's voice and that the charcoal drawings were indeed her style. At the time of the second video release, Israel at least knew exactly where Noa had been for a month and a half. Discovery of the Hideout. Israel initially planned to rescue Noa but received credible and final information that three male hostages, including Almog Meir Jan, Andrei Kuzolov, and Shlomi Ziv, were also being held in an apartment 200 meters from Noa's hideout. This led the planners of the Israeli commando operation to consider another solution: to rescue all four hostages in a single operation, as if they were to attack only one of the two houses, Hamas members might kill the hostages in the second house. Six weeks prior, the first steps of the Israeli army to design this rescue operation began. The army and the internal security agency entrusted the main execution of the operation to 'Yamam,' the elite commando unit of the Israeli police. Joint training with a select few experienced helicopter pilots in the Israeli Air Force continued for six weeks. According to Israeli media, the reason the army had refrained from conducting any operations in Nuseirat over the past eight months was due to the awareness of the hostages' presence in the area. The U.S. and Britain also assisted in gathering information about the hideout but played no role in executing the operation. The first scheduled date for the operation was canceled at the last minute due to sudden changes in conditions. A second date was set for June 17, but that date was also canceled due to sudden changes in regional conditions. On the morning of June 9, the Prime Minister, Chief of Staff, head of Shin Bet, the police chief, and other senior intelligence and security officials headed to a special headquarters while the Israeli public was still asleep. The operation was planned to take place that day at noon; in broad daylight. The Rescue Plan for Noa. A group of male and female commandos arrived around 11:30 AM on Saturday dressed in Arab clothing and carrying items such as mattresses and several bundles and suitcases, resembling Palestinians fleeing from 'bombings in Rafah,' to a street in the center of the Nuseirat market, where both locations holding the hostages, including Noa Argamani and the three male hostages, were located. Another group of commandos entered the area with a truck. The Israeli army later denied the use of a humanitarian aid truck. Two helicopters with elite pilots selected for the operation took off over the Mediterranean Sea to determine their arrival time on the shore. The entry of the commandos into the house where Noa was hidden was accomplished with 'relative ease,' and her guards were killed. Noa was transferred into a vehicle that quickly passed through the crowded street, and the first helicopter approached the shore for her rescue. Israeli media published footage of Noa entering the helicopter, showing how excited the pilot was about the commandos' success in the rescue operation. The Complex Conclusion. The more complex phase of the operation, as recounted by the Israeli army in a statement after the hostages' rescue, was the attack on the residence of a Palestinian journalist where the extremist group Hamas was hiding three male Israeli hostages. The Israeli army has not provided evidence to confirm that these three hostages were being held in the Palestinian journalist's house before the rescue. According to Israeli media, Captain Arnon Zamora, the commander of the elite 'Yamam' unit, was the first commando to enter that location. Other commandos quickly subdued the three hostages and surrounded them to prevent any potential harm. Other commandos took down the Hamas guards, and the three hostages were transferred to a waiting vehicle on the street. However, other Hamas members in the area, aware of the operation, opened fire on the vehicle carrying the three male hostages, including with an RPG, resulting in flat tires. Some reports indicate that following heavy gunfire and possibly due to an anti-tank missile hitting the vehicle carrying the Israelis, the condition of Arnon, the commander of the commandos who was injured and in the same vehicle, deteriorated. Additional forces from the Israeli army's 96th Division were called to the scene to carry out an operation known as 'rescue in rescue' to extricate the three hostages and the engaged commandos from the area. This situation lasted an hour. Their gunfire resulted in heavy casualties in that narrow and busy street. The Return of the 'Diamonds' to Israel. Despite casualties and heavy exchanges of fire during the operation on Saturday afternoon, the vehicle carrying the Israelis managed to escape, and the second rescue helicopter, after landing on the shore, brought the hostages, commandos, and the severely injured commander back to Israel. The helicopters landed at the 'Sheba' medical center in Tel Aviv less than half an hour later. The hospital's director and a few medical staff had only been informed of the potential operation a few hours earlier and were prepared. The helicopter pilots, upon returning to Israel, informed the Prime Minister, Chief of Staff, and other senior commanders who were witnessing the operation from the special war room that 'the diamonds are in our hands'; 'diamonds' was the code name for the rescued hostages. This code name had also been used in a previous operation to free two Israeli men in the city of Rafah. Andrei Kuzolov, one of the four hostages rescued from Gaza during the Israeli forces' operation on June 9, upon returning to Israel, with the success of the operation, Israeli officers began contacting the families of the four hostages to inform them of the news. The families rushed to the 'Sheba' center. With the announcement of this news, Israelis across the country and many abroad began to dance and celebrate. Request for 'Negotiation with Hamas.' The families of 116 other Israelis still held captive by the extremist group Hamas expressed deep satisfaction with the return of the four hostages but urged the Israeli government to show maximum compromise for a political deal with Hamas, as they believe 'it is impossible to rescue all other hostages through commando operations.' Herzi Halevi, the Chief of Staff of the Israeli army, during a visit to his forces in the Gaza Strip, described the recent operation as a 'moral duty' to return the abducted individuals. An Israeli army spokesperson also stated that they have taken and will take 'unimaginable actions.' The destruction left after the operation on June 9 by Israel to rescue four hostages from Gaza in the Nuseirat refugee camp. On the Palestinian side, Reuters reported, citing medical staff in Gaza, that the high number of casualties on June 9 has left Palestinians in shock. The Israeli army denied the death of 274 Palestinians in this operation, stating that a special forces officer who was killed in an exchange of fire with Hamas members in the residential blocks of that area reported before his death that 'less than 100 Palestinians' were killed within the scope of the operation. The EU's foreign policy chief described the recent operation to rescue four Israeli hostages as 'another massacre against civilians' and stated that the EU condemns this action by the Israeli army 'in the strongest possible terms.' The U.S. State Department previously emphasized that due to Hamas's use of 'civilian infrastructure for military purposes and civilians as human shields,' verifying Israel's actions against civilians is difficult.