FALCON POWERS – Israeli media outlets have revealed new details about the operation carried out by Israel to recover 4 of its prisoners in the Gaza Strip, which it called the “Summer Seeds” operation.
They mentioned that at 11:00 am, the order was given to the “Yam” and “Shin Bet” officers to raid two multi-story buildings in An-Nuseirat in central Gaza, where Hamas was holding the prisoners Argaman, Mair Jan, Andrei Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv.
The distance between the two buildings was about 200 meters, and the decision was to go to both at the same time, and not just one location, due to the possibility that Hamas would kill the hostages after discovering the rescue operation.
Argaman was held alone in a Palestinian family’s home, while the other three prisoners were held in a separate house.
According to the Israeli army, Hamas pays these families to hold the hostages in their homes.
In the house where Mair Jan, Kozlov, and Ziv were held, a firefight broke out, during which a senior Yam officer, Arnon Zamora, the rescue team leader in the second building, was seriously wounded by Hamas fire.
While extracting the three hostages and Zamora, their vehicle was shot at, causing it to break down.
Other forces soon arrived at the scene to rescue them and transported them to a temporary helicopter landing pad in Gaza. The rescue forces witnessed heavy gunfire and RPG attacks during the operation, prompting ground forces and air forces to carry out major strikes in the area to protect themselves and the rescued hostages, according to the occupation’s claims.
The Israeli army acknowledges that it killed many Palestinian civilians in the fighting, and according to the latest reports, the number of Palestinian martyrs reached 210 and the wounded 400.
Hamas activists launched anti-aircraft missiles at Israeli helicopters flying over the area during the operation.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the operation to rescue the four prisoners from the Gaza Strip was “one of the most heroic and exceptional operations I have seen in my 47 years of service in the Israeli defense establishment”.
On the Israeli side, despite the difficulty and danger of the operation, which took place in the heart of civilian neighborhoods, one Israeli soldier was killed. This occurred in the house where Meir Jan, Kuzlov and Zev were held hostage. A firefight broke out, during which the commander of the rescue team in the second building was seriously wounded by fire from the resistance fighters and later died, as efforts to save him were unsuccessful.
