GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 246

A Good Day For Israel

A Very Big Deal

Many of us have been praying for the Israel Defense Force (IDF) to find and rescue the hostages still captive we see that 4 of them were indeed found as seen in an article from The Jerusalem Post:

Four more hostages were rescued in a joint operation by the IDF, Yamam, Shin Bet, and Israeli police, the IDF announced in a statement on Saturday.

The IDF released the following statement on Saturday, "It has been cleared for publication that in a complex operation by the IDF, Shin Bet, and the Yamam unit of the Israel police four Israeli hostages were rescued this Saturday morning. The hostages, Noa Argamani (25,) Almog Meir (21,) Andrey Kozlov (27,) and Shlomi Ziv (40,) were kidnapped by Hamas in the Gaza Strip from the 'Nova' party on October 7th.

The announcement gave us more information on the operation:

"The hostages were rescued by Shin Bet and Yamam fighters from two different locations in an operation in the heart of Nuseirat. Their medical condition is stable, and they have been transferred for further medical examinations at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel HaShomer. Security forces will continue to make every effort to bring back the hostages."

The rescue was not easy and Hamas fought to stop it:

Later, in a televised statement, IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari spoke on the heroic operation, "The IDF and Yamam infiltrated two facilities while under fire by Hamas terrorists. A Yamam soldier was seriously injured in the operation and has just reached the hospital. We pray for his well-being.

They sent a message to those still in captivity:

"This operation was a success in rescuing and returning four hostages. We will continue to do everything to return the 120 hostages still held in Gaza. We are confident that we will reach you, and this operation will not end until you are returned home.

"We will not give up on a single hostage. I want to say, it is a great pride seeing the security forces working together, shoulder to shoulder, in a vital operation: returning the hostages home. When the operation reached this level of intelligence and was approved [by the relevant bodies] ... only then were we permitted to proceed. Hamas intentionally hides the hostages in civilian neighborhoods."

If you read between the lines you can see why even seemingly innocent civilians can and do harbor hostages when asked. Will these hostages be able to provide information on the rest of them? The article ends with this on that topic:

When asked by KAN 11 if there were other hostages with them, "We cannot answer this intelligence questions about other hostages. We must be careful with information security. This operation could have ended very differently."

In short, take the win and push to bring more of them home. And pray harder. There is hope.

Surrender Isn’t In The Cards

I know we pray that the terrorists will stop fighting and lay down their arms and while it could happen we read in another report from The Jerusalem Post that Hamas doesn’t consider that an option:

Shortly after Israeli forces freed hostages Noa Argamani, Andrey Kozlov, Shlomi Ziv, and Almog Meir on Saturday, Hamas published a statement from the terror organization’s leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in which the arch-terrorist asserted that Hamas would not surrender.

“Our people will not surrender, and the resistance will continue to defend our rights in the face of this criminal enemy,” Haniyeh reportedly said. “And if the occupation believes that it can impose its choices on us by force, it is delusional, and the movement will not agree to any agreement that does not achieve security for our people first and foremost.”

He went on to issue the usual charge that the IDF is routinely killing Gazans, a charge that we shouldn’t consider reliable at all, even though international leaders repeat it:

In the statement, the Hamas leader asserted that the Israeli military was engaging in massacres of the Palestinian people in Gaza.

“[Israel] continues the massacres against our people, children and women, the chapters of which are now taking place in Nuseirat and Deir al-Balah.”

While the IDF can’t confirm what Hamas is reporting, Hamas gives their account of the rescue operation:

According to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, the bodies of at least 93 Palestinians who were killed during Israeli activities in Nuseirat and other areas in the central region of the Gaza Strip arrived at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital on Saturday.

The report adds this disclaimer and its an important one for anyone willing to listen:

The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its reporting, and the numbers published by the ministry have come under scrutiny, particularly in recent days, for its apparent inflating of the proportion of women and children killed during the war.

As previously mentioned, Hamas isn’t stopping fighting:

Later, Hamas put out another statement saying that the Israeli rescue operation would not "not change its strategic failure in the Gaza Strip" as the terrorist organization still held the bulk of the hostages.

And then they stated this chilling information:

Hamas also claimed that it was capable of capturing more hostages.

Apparently they want to take more hostages which is yet another reason to never trust them in any agreement. As I’ve stated in the past, they do only what is best for them and their survival, even if it means innocent people from either side are hurt or killed. These are not rational people and they certainly have little to no respect for life. Don’t take my word for it, listen to what they say and do.

Gantz Not Retiring Afterall

A prominent member of the Israeli war cabinet who threatened to leave today unless his demands for Prime Minister Netanyahu were met decided to change his mind as we read in a report from The Times Of Israel:

War cabinet member Benny Gantz on Saturday canceled a news conference planned for the evening, during which he was expected to announce his National Unity party was leaving the government.

Was it because of the successful rescue operation which could make Gantz look bad if he bolted now? Until a formal announcement is made we won’t know:

It was not immediately clear if Gantz would reschedule the press conference for another time.

In a May 18 speech, Gantz issued an ultimatum to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, demanding the premier present an agreed-upon vision for Gaza’s post-war governance. If Netanyahu failed to do so by June 8, the former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff threatened to pull his centrist National Unity party out of the government.

Netanyahu’s coalition could still remain in power if it lost Gantz’s support:

National Unity’s exit would not have toppled the government, which holds 64 of 120 Knesset seats without the centrist party. Gantz has come under pressure to remain in the government as a counterweight to Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who fiercely oppose an end to the fighting in Gaza, even as part of a deal to release the hostages.

As I noted, until Gantz tells us when or if he will leave the government we can only guess what he and his party will do next. What we know as reported in a post on X, Netanyahu wants Gantz to stay:

"This is the time for unity and not for division. We must remain united within ourselves in the face of the great tasks before us. I call on Benny Gantz - do not leave the emergency government. Don't give up on unity."

Right now, in a purely political view, Gantz would lose if a new election were held now. And the news of rescuing the hostages only makes Netanyahu more popular. For us as we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, a unified government is a good defense against Hamas and for winning this war.