For months, Israelis have only heard of hostages being killed or declared dead in Gaza. The “lucky” families are those whose loved ones’ remains are retrieved by soldiers, at great risk, and brought home to Israel for burial.
So, Saturday’s rescue of four hostages alive immediately boosted morale in Israel and gave at least a momentary victory to the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
But by Sunday, the euphoria had given way to a harsher reality. The accompanying air and ground strikes killed dozens of Palestinians, including civilians, according to Gaza health officials, undermining Israel’s claim that the operation was a success, at least internationally. And the operation failed to resolve any of the deep dilemmas and vexing challenges of the Israeli government, according to analysts.
Eight months after the grinding war in Gaza, Israel still seems far from achieving its goal of dismantling the military and government capabilities of Hamas. And Israel fears that time is running out for the many hostages in Gaza. About a third of the remaining 120 have been declared dead by Israeli authorities.
At the same time, Israel’s leadership is grappling with escalating hostilities on its northern border with Lebanon and struggling with increasing international isolation and opprobrium over the war in Gaza, including allegations of genocide heard by the International Court of Justice in The Hague. .
The rescue mission “doesn’t solve a single problem Israel has faced since October 7,” Nahum Barnea, a prominent Israeli political columnist, wrote in the popular newspaper Yediot Ahronot on Sunday.
“It doesn’t solve the problem in the north; it doesn’t solve the problem in Gaza; and it doesn’t solve the other problems that threaten Israel in the international arena,” he said.
The stability of Mr. Netanyahu’s government hangs in the balance.
Pressure has been building on the Israeli government to reach a deal with Hamas to release all remaining hostages. But the fate of Israel’s proposal for a ceasefire and a hostage and prisoner exchange, as outlined by President Biden more than a week ago, is still uncertain. The Biden administration and Israeli officials said they were still waiting for an official response from Hamas to determine whether negotiations could resume.
Israel is now debating whether the hostage rescue operation will help or hinder the prospect of such a deal – one that, if it goes ahead, could threaten Mr Netanyahu’s hold on power, with those on the right in the ruling coalition vowing to stop it. and bring down his government.
The rescue of the four hostages will likely bolster the arguments of those who say that Israeli military pressure on Hamas and ongoing ground operations in Gaza are necessary to bring more hostages home.
But for many Israelis and relatives of the remaining number of hostages, the return of only four made it clear – that such a complex military operation might save only a few people and carry great risks for the military.
The Israeli news media ignored the death toll reported by officials in Gaza as a result of the rescue operation. Neither Israeli nor Palestinian military health officials provided a breakdown of the number of civilians and fighters killed in the attack.
The main spokesman of the military, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, explained the limits of what the military can do in a briefing with journalists on Saturday, saying about the remaining hostages, “We know that we cannot carry out an operation to save them all. because the situation is not always The largest number of hostages ever released – more than a hundred – were released under a previous deal for a temporary ceasefire and a hostage and prisoner exchange in November.
The operation also confirms Israel’s predicate: Without troops on the ground, the military will not be able to carry out rescue operations or continue to dismantle Hamas’ capabilities. But Hamas has made any progress on the hostage deal conditional on Israel’s commitment to a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of its forces from Gaza.
For Hamas – which lost its four remaining bargaining chips on Saturday – the deadly Israeli operation could strengthen its position. The group pointed out that the rescue operation could make things worse for the remaining captives.
“The operation will cause great danger to enemy prisoners and will have a negative impact on their situation and lives,” said the spokesman for the group’s military wing, Abu Obeida, in a statement on Friday.
Experts say some of the remaining hostages may now be moved from civilian apartment buildings, like the four occupants rescued on Saturday, to more difficult conditions in underground tunnels that will be more difficult to reach.
“Hamas will try to draw lessons” from the operation and be more careful to keep hostages inaccessible, said Avi Kalo, an Israeli lieutenant colonel in the reserves and former head of the military’s intelligence department that focuses on soldiers missing in action.
“For Hamas this is not a turning point,” he said, adding that the group still has many hostages. “Four less than nothing changes reality dramatically,” he said.
Some Israelis compared Saturday’s high-stakes operation to the recounted Entebbe raid nearly 50 years ago, when Israeli commandos rescued more than a hundred mostly Israeli hostages held in Uganda by pro-Palestinian hijackers. Mr Netanyahu’s brother, Yonatan, the commander of the attack, was killed during the mission.
Mr. Netanyahu himself sought to link the two on Sunday, announcing that while the Entebbe attack had been retroactively named Operation Yonatan, in his brother’s memory, the government had approved a military proposal to name Saturday’s attack “Operation Arnon,” in Arnon’s honor. Zamora, an Israeli police commando who was killed in combat during a mission in Gaza.
Many Israelis have accused Mr. Netanyahu, whose approval ratings plummeted after Oct. 7, of trying to save the lives of the hostages who were released in a hospital near Tel Aviv where they are recovering and reuniting with their families.
His office later released reams of photos and video clips from the hospital, where Mr. Netanyahu also made public statements, violating the customary rules of government activity on the Jewish Sabbath.
The families of hostages who have not returned say they have not received personal attention from the prime minister. Avi Marciano, whose daughter Noa, a soldier, was kidnapped on October 7 and killed in Gaza, wrote in a Facebook post that six months after the death was announced, “The prime minister has not come. He has not called.”
One bellwether of the government’s evolving policies, or lack thereof, was the decision on Sunday by Benny Gantz, former military chief and Mr Netanyahu’s main political rival, to pull the centrist National Unity party out of the wartime emergency government.
Mr Gantz joined the government after October 7 out of what he said was a sense of national responsibility and became a key member of Mr Netanyahu’s war cabinet. Three weeks ago, he issued an ultimatum, saying he would resign from the government on June 8 unless Mr. Netanyahu sets a clear and strategic path, including making decisions and plans on how to free the remaining hostages in Gaza and for a post-war government. area, among other issues.
Mr. Gantz had planned to address the country on Saturday night, but because of the hostage situation, he delayed the anticipated announcement by 24 hours. The departure of his party will not immediately bring down the government; Mr. Netanyahu and his remaining colleagues still form a majority in Parliament.
But Mr Gantz accused Mr Netanyahu of delaying a critical decision for narrow political reasons, sending a clear signal that after Saturday’s dramatic attack, not much has changed.
