IDF frees four, kills millions

Israeli Defense Forces pulled off a daring daylight raid Saturday in the Nuseirat refugee camp late last week and liberated four hostages who had been taken October 7 at the Nova music festival. Hamas immediately claimed civilian casualties were huge. Seemingly thousands of innocent women and children were killed (no doubt they were relieved at losing none of their own Hamas terrorists.)

Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv, were rescued by the Israeli military, intelligence and special forces from two separate locations in Nuseirat, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Saturday.

They are in good medical condition and have been transferred to the ‘Sheba’ Tel-HaShomer Medical Center for further medical examinations,” the IDF added.

An Israeli policeman from a special counter-terrorism unit was killed in Saturday’s rescue operation, according to Israeli police.

At least 236 people have been killed as a result of the rescue operation and more than 400 injured, hospital officials in Gaza said Saturday. CNN

Al-Awda Hospital director Dr Marwan Abu Nasser told CNN that 142 bodies had been counted at the medical facility by late Saturday, while Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah said 94 bodies had been counted.

CNN has no way of verifying casualty numbers reported by Palestinian officials in Gaza. Medical records in the war-torn enclave do not differentiate between civilians and militants killed.

An Israeli military spokesperson put the number of casualties from the operation at “under 100,” and had no information on how many of those were civilians.

You have the option of believing any of the multitudinous casualty counts.

Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces had to enter civilian areas to reach hostages as this was where Hamas had embedded itself.

He said the hostages had been locked in two separate apartments in civilian multi-story buildings about 200 meters (650 feet) apart, with Argamani held in a different building to the three males. He said the IDF had received intelligence on their location beforehand, noting that hostages in Gaza were frequently moved around and Argamani had previously been held elsewhere. Similar raids had been called off at the last minute “more than three or four times” due to unfavorable conditions, he added.

Following Saturday’s announcement, the total number of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip from October 7 is now 116, of which at least 41 are dead.

Opinion pieces are already appearing saying the Israelis should be happy now and should declare peace. (My math says 116-41= 85 remaining presumed alive.) And, our VP has already jumped into the breach to make her mind known:

Vice President Harris mourned the Palestinians who were killed in a successful Israeli hostage rescue operation this weekend during an address delivered Saturday.

On Oct. 7, Hamas committed a brutal massacre of 1,200 innocent people and abducted 250 hostages,” she continued. “Thankfully, four of those hostages were reunited with their families tonight. And we mourn all of the innocent lives that have been lost in Gaza, including those tragically killed today.”  Fox News

And for civilian casualties:

Israeli forces say Hamas intentionally kept the hostages in a “civilian environment.” They also said even the Palestinians who were holding the hostages were also “civilians.”

Maybe an old-fashioned prejudice on my part, but seems to me if you are a ‘civilian’ helping the enemy hold hostages, you ARE the enemy.

Category: International Affairs, Israel