Some members of special forces they entered the field of Nuseirat passing themselves off as displaced persons Rafah. They belonged to Israeli units who operate in the Palestinian areas, mixing with the locals and speaking fluently Arabic. Thus began the raid that led to the liberation of the four hostages Israelis from Gaza: Noa Argamani26 years, Andrew Kozlov27, Almog Meir Jan22, e Shlomi Ziv41. However, the ensuing firefight resulted in the death of the Israeli police officer Arnon Zamora and at least 210 Palestiniansbut also of others Three hostages, according to what Hamas reports. The reconstruction of the operation is still partial and confused. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu he defined it as “heroic“, while the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas he condemned it as a “massacre bloody” and called for an emergency session of the Security Council ofUN.
Disguised in a white car
According to local sources, the Israeli special unit infiltrated the Nuseirat camp disguised as displaced persons from Rafah, using a white car with mattresses on the roof. Among the forces were also womendressed with clothes locals. The units entered the camp from an area near the American aid dock and the Nezarim corridor, the east-west passage that bisects Gaza north of the camp, which is controlled by the‘Idf and is used as start point for raids in the northern and central parts of the Strip. The locals, according to the Arab network’s report Asharqasked the new arrivals where they were from and the latter replied that they were fleeing the IDF operation in Rafah and were going to the area around the Nuseirat market.
The hostages “at the home of an al Jazeera journalist”
A first group headed towards the building where she was detained Noa Argamani. The three male hostages (Andrey Kozlov, Shlomi Ziv and Almog Meir Jan) were held in another building in 200 meters away. The unit then split into two groups, each heading towards one of the two buildings, in preparation for the operation. Eyewitnesses tell Asharq that in addition to the disguised troops, other special forces entered the Nuseirat camp inside a rescue truck. The IDF, however, denied having used it humanitarian transport for the operation. After the raid, unverified rumors spread that Noa Argamani had been held hostage in the journalist’s house Abdallah Aljamal, killed during the raid. On the contrary, according to what the IDF reported in the evening, the three male hostages were in the Palestinian journalist’s house. The Israeli army reported that the reporter was a Hamas operative and was holding Almog Meir, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv hostage along with his family in his house in Nuseirat. Abdallah was the spokesman of the Ministry of Labour in Gaza run by Hamas and has collaborated with various media outlets in the past. Al Jazeera – called into question by Tel Aviv – categorically denied any connection with the journalist: “This man is not from Al-Jazeera, and he did not work for Al-Jazeera at all, and it does not appear that he works for Al-Jazeera either now or in the past. We don’t know him and all the rumors that have been spread are devoid of content and they are not true at all“.
The firefight and the liberation by helicopter
The raid was prepared for weeks and was carried out in broad daylight to exploit the surprise effect. The Israeli special forces, which according to the CNN were supported logistically and at an intelligence level by one squad American, conducted the operation in two places simultaneously. During the recovery, one of the vehicles with the three men broke down blocked: for this reason the Israeli army men apparently decided to start shooting. The firefight it is very heavy. Having repelled the Hamas militiamen, the four hostages were taken away helicopter up to a hospital Tel Aviv. Meanwhile, other raids were carried out at market of Nuseirat and the mosque of al-Awda. Such as to provoke – reports Doctors Without Borders – 50 hospitalizations of serious injuries in one hour in the hospital Nasser.
