GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 253

Inhumane Treatment

Inhumane Treatment

Slowly we are hearing about how poorly Hamas treats the hostages as we read in a report from i24news.tv:

Rescued hostage Noa Argamani told the mother of one of the captive IDF spotters that young Israeli women were "held as slaves" in a luxury villa in Gaza before being taken down into the Hamas tunnels.

So much for the Geneva Convention rules. Noa’s mother filled us in more of the details:

“Noa said that they were slaves, and so were the IDF spotters," Liri Albag's mother Shiri said in a statement. “They cleaned the yard, did dishes and prepared food that they were not allowed to eat.”

Staying clean wasn’t an option either:

She added her daughter, held at first in a "luxury villa," was only allowed to shower after a month in captivity. Soon thereafter Liri was moved into Hamas’s spiraling network of underground tunnels.

Once in the tunnels, things got worse:

“Down there it’s much worse, without fresh water, and little food,” she said, adding that the hostages were not provided with clean clothes and have no way to wash and dry their garments and underwear.

As previously released hostages have attested, the hostages are merely bargaining pieces to help Hamas win a war they started. Some thought that they were good people in a bad situation. After being treated as lower than human and after they cheered when Israel was attacked, they quickly changed their minds. They are only happy when Jews suffer or die. That may be hard to hear, but the testimonies continue to support it. Leaving Hamas in power or any terrorist regime like the Palestinian Authority will only lead to more attacks and more trouble for Israel no matter what the politicians think. If you want to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, add this situation to your prayer list.

It Almost Didn’t Happen

An article from The Times Of Israel tells us that the hostage rescue was almost called off:

Israel’s June 8 operation to rescue four hostages in central Gaza was nearly canceled at the last minute, Channel 12 reported Friday.

Conditions changed quickly:

According to the network, at 10 a.m. on Saturday, the head of operations at the Shin Bet security agency informed Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi that conditions for the rescue were not optimal at one of the two locations in which the hostages were held.

This would make it more difficult to access both locations at the same moment — a critical element of the operation to prevent terror operatives from harming the hostages.

They only had an hour window:

Security chiefs had a one-hour window to make a decision. After deliberations, the Shin Bet’s Operations Directorate recommended to move forward. Halevi and Bar approved and at 10:55 a.m. the order was given to launch the operation.

The report did not detail the problem or what actions were taken to mitigate it.

Fortunately, they were able to pull the rescue off. More information is known now about the missions:

The IDF on Friday released footage from the raid, showing troops of the Paratroopers Brigade’s reconnaissance unit operating near central Gaza’s Nuseirat, as the rescued Israeli hostages and special forces were transferred to armored vehicles.

The video shows the paratroopers arriving at an area where the Yamam and Shin Bet officers became stuck with the rescued hostages due to massive enemy fire and a vehicle breakdown, and securing it.

It was a well-planned and executed operation:

The Jewish Chronicle on Thursday published details on the undercover work carried out by special forces in the lead-up to the operation.

Disguises were used to pull it off:

According to the report, which cited unnamed Israeli security officials, after Israel received intelligence on the location of the four hostages in Nuseirat — Noa Argamani in one building, and Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv in another — teams of men and women perfectly impersonating locals, known as “mista’arvim,” moved into the area.

The teams disguised themselves as Gazans fleeing the Israeli offensive in Rafah in the weeks leading up to the rescue, befriended locals and began monitoring the locations and gathering information, including through renting out an apartment and shopping at the local markets.

On Friday, the Shin Bet security agency published an image showing a makeup room during preparations for the hostage rescue mission.

With all the pieces in place it was then up to the IDF to finally pull the trigger on the rescue:

At the same time in Israel deliberations began on the intelligence and the possibility of mounting an extraction effort. When the decision was made to do so, special forces conducted three intensive days of training, simulating the two buildings in which the hostages were held. The decision to launch the rescue was made on June 6, at which point most of the undercover agents left Nuseirat, though a small team remained to ensure the hostages were not moved.

The operation was executed successfully two days later.

While the IDF did its level best to avoid civilian casualties because Hamas hides and works out of homes and places like schools and hospitals it is they who put them in harms way and they need to shoulder the responsibility for endangering them. It will be a cold day in Hades when you hear anyone in the media other than from Israel that will bring that up. But a guy can hope.

Prayer Keys

If you are a believer and want to pray for Israel, here are some ways to do that:

Lord, aid us to pray according to Your Word and Your will for Israel today (Psa. 10:17; Rom. 8:26).

Being set apart from the world and being separated unto You is one definition of being "holy," and so we bless You for turning Israel into that holy nation which You called it to be (Ex. 19:5; Isa. 41:8).

Lord, we again praise You for reminding us to trust in You and not in Israel's government, while still recognizing that You set up its government for this time (Est. 4:14b; Psa. 75:6-7; 103:19; Dan. 2:21).

Turn the minds of Israel's leaders to seek You for wisdom to lead Israel (Psa. 80:3, 19; Prov. 1:1-7).

Shield them from yielding to any internal or external anti-God pressure (Num. 23:23; Deut. 33:29).

Messiah of Israel, anoint PM Bibi Netanyahu to heed Your will alone (Prov. 19:21; 21:1).

Surround him with sons of Zion and Issachar as his advisors (Ex. 18:19a; 1 Chr. 12:32).

We rejoice and give You the glory for the sensational IDF rescue of four hostages in a Gaza refugee camp that took place in broad daylight last Shabbat (Psa. 50:15; 103:6).

Let Israel remind those who condemn it because Gazan civilians were killed, that Hamas is hiding Israel's civilian hostages among Gazans, using Gazans as human shields (Psa. 10:7-8; 94:21).

Allow the voices of hostage families who see Hamas' defeat as more urgent for Israel than setting their loved ones free receive much more attention – especially in Israel's media (Psa. 31:24).

God, we glorify You that Israel is winning the war despite the stumbling stones which the world has placed before it and the massive distortion of truth in the media (1 Chr. 29:11; Zech. 9:13-17).

Help Israel to "neutralize" all of Hamas' leaders, both inside and outside of Gaza (1 Sam. 17:51).

King Messiah, shield Israel's soldiers, guarding over them at all times (Isa. 33:22; Zeph. 3:15).

Direct the IDF to fight in all areas of Gaza and to give Hamas no rest or safety (Judg. 4:21).

Lord, turn Rafah, Hamas' final stronghold on the Egyptian-Gaza border – into its final resting place (2 Sam. 22:38-41; Psa. 21:8-9).

And Lord, we pray for the peace if Jerusalem (Ps 122:6)