Information gathered for days by undercover agents, an assault launched suddenly in perfect coordination, then a long firefight with dozens of terrorists armed with machine guns and RGPs
Arnon Zamora, 36, chief inspector of the Yamam special anti-terrorism units, who fell on June 8 during the hostage rescue operation. He lived in Sde David, near Sderot, the southern Israeli city targeted for years by Hamas rockets and hit by terrorist attacks on 7 October
Less than a week after “Operation Arnon”, the Jewish Chroniclethe largest Jewish newspaper in Britain, reveals a series of dramatic details about the mission that led to the rescue of the four Israeli hostages on 8 June.
In fact, the operation began well before June 8.
On May 12, Israel received information that four hostages were in the Palestinian camp of Nuseirat, in the center of the Gaza Strip. Since then, every branch of Israeli intelligence has been focused on pinpointing their exact location. Mista’arvim special forces units, operating undercover, mixed with the local population, mainly in the Nuseirat market area. Their job was to gather information from the locals and verify the information they had from the arrested terrorists. To collect other data, particular technological tools and means of observation from above were also used.
After 19 days of intense collaboration, the intelligence services managed to obtain precise information on the whereabouts of the hostages. It turned out that the hostages were being held in two separate buildings within the same area. Noa Argamani was on the first floor of a building, while the other three hostages were held on the third floor of another building 800 meters away.
In early June, a few days before the operation, this crucial information was presented to the war cabinet. The chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces, Herzi Halevi, and the head of the security services, Ronen Bar, were tasked with developing a rescue plan while keeping the information strictly secret. Even the senior commanders in Gaza were not informed. Once the decision was made by the war cabinet, preparations and training for the operation began.
To further verify the information and lay the foundations for the operation, another team of undercover soldiers, including women dressed in hijab and long dark dresses. Arriving in two old cars loaded with household items like the displaced families, residents who asked questions told them that they had fled the bombings in Rafah and had decided to move to the center of the Gaza Strip.
Undercover officers managed to identify the exact building where Noa Argamani was detained and offered a local resident a considerable sum to rent a house in the same block. Within a few hours they found a spacious house close to Argamani’s location.
The hostages shortly after their liberation
After having settled in and become familiar with the area by also making purchases at the market, the agents realized that they had not aroused suspicion. They then moved on to look for confirmation of the hostages’ location.
They split into two teams. A team, consisting of a man posing as a typical Gazan and a woman with hijab and long black dress, walked down the street toward Al-Awda Medical Center, 200 meters from where Noa was being held and several hundred meters from where the other three hostages were being held. They walked with indifference, as if they were on a street in their home. To avoid suspicion, they occasionally stopped at stalls and voiced some complaints about the “difficult situation in Gaza.” Of course they both spoke perfect Arabic with a Gazan accent. Four armed undercover officers followed them to provide protection in case things suddenly took a dangerous turn.
The second team included four female soldiers dressed as women from Gaza, one of whom pretended to be pregnant. Carrying bags full of groceries and walking in pairs, in accordance with social norms that prohibit young Muslim women from wandering around alone, they advanced towards the residential building where, on the third floor, Shlomi, Andrey and Almog were held. This team was also followed by four armed undercover agents.
Meanwhile, five other undercover officers remained at the rented house to ensure it remained secure and the teams did not get discovered. Three hours later, at the scheduled time, the teams returned to the rented house and began processing the information they had gathered: they were able to confirm that the four hostages were being held in two different family homes, and this crucial information was transmitted in Israel.
Some Yamam commandos who took part in Operation Arnon
At that point, twenty-eight Yamam commandos began training on two specially built models that replicated the buildings where the hostages were held. After three days of training, the commander informed the chief of staff that they were ready. The political leadership finally approved the operation on June 5 and undercover agents were ordered to leave the Palestinian camp discreetly, while some agents remained in the area to ensure that the hostages were not moved.
Only at this point were senior army commanders and other members of the cabinet informed of the operation.
On the morning of Friday 7 June, twenty-eight Yamam commandos begin to move in two teams towards the two buildings of the Nuseirat camp. To maintain the element of surprise, the units approach in two non-military trucks.
Shortly before 11.00 the agents arrive exactly on the two objectives and wait for the signal.
Using advanced surveillance technologies and support from Air Force aircraft, ground forces are informed that the area is “clear”, with no suspicious movements near the buildings. Real-time updates are transmitted from vehicles on site to command and control centers in Israel, where senior officers oversee the operation.
At 11.00 sharp the order to proceed arrives and the commandos storm the two buildings simultaneously and in full coordination, to prevent the terrorists from reacting against the hostages.
Within six minutes, one of the two teams eliminates the terrorists holding Noa Argamani prisoner and brings her safely out of the apartment. She will then be flown back to Israel by helicopter.
While Noa’s rescue goes smoothly, that of the other three hostages, held on the third floor of a building 800 meters away, is much more complicated and difficult.
The moment a Yamam commando gives the “fist bump” to the hostage Almog Meir Jan who has just been tracked down (click the image for the video on Times of Israel)
They are prisoners in the home of Dr. Ahmad Al-Jamal, a doctor affiliated with Hamas, together with his son Abdullah, a journalist who has collaborated with Al Jazeera. Part of the team uses a ladder to enter directly into the room where Almog, Andrey and Shlomi are, while others break in through the stairs of the main entrance. However, Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora’s team, which is leading the assault, encounters heavy fire from around thirty Hamas terrorists inside the apartment armed with machine guns and grenades. It is in this phase that Commander Arnon Zamora, in whose memory the entire operation will later be named, is mortally wounded.
The presence of as many as thirty terrorists was unexpected, the undercover agents had not had any news of it. It is likely that they arrived that morning or the evening before to strengthen surveillance around the hostages.
Nonetheless, the Yamam commandos continue to fight with determination at close range, flanked by other members of the team waiting outside the apartment. The three hostages must hide in the bathroom of the apartment, protected by several soldiers, while the intense battle lasts. At that stage, leaving the apartment is impossible.
Only after a long fight, the Yamam commandos manage to eliminate all the terrorists and take the hostages out. At the same time they take away Commander Zamora, seriously injured, in the hope of having time to save his life.
But it’s not over yet. Dozens of terrorists come out of some tunnels around the building firing with machine guns and role-playing RPGs at the unit which is trying to extricate itself with the hostages and the wounded man on a stretcher. The commandos try to disengage by running through smoke-filled alleys, under constant enemy fire.
When their vehicle is hit by two RPG grenades, the command activates “plan B”: a pre-arranged extraction operation under heavy enemy fire, covered by land, sea and air support. Hundreds of paratroopers and Golani and Givati soldiers launch into the assault on the camp, engaging the Hamas terrorists at close range while some air strikes hit the terrorists just ten meters from the Israeli forces.
Reinforcements and air support manage to isolate the battle zone and create an escape route for the main unit carrying the hostages. After a long firefight, the threats are neutralized and the unit evacuates safely with Shlomi Ziv, Andrey Kozlov and Almog Meir Jan. Unfortunately, it is too late for Arnon Zamora.
Hamas claims that 274 Palestinians were killed during the operation, suggesting that almost all of them were uninvolved civilians.
The Israeli Defense Forces instead report having killed or wounded 104 Palestinians, all terrorists or armed civilians who opened fire on the forces involved in rescuing the hostages.
(From: YnetNews, 14.6.24)
June 14, 2024
Actuality
