Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel would not miss an opportunity to free more hostages. The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Authority reported on Monday at least 70 dead and 160 injured in the attack.
First liberation of civilian hostages
In order to free all hostages, continued military pressure is necessary until there is a “complete victory” over Hamas, Netanyahu continues. The freed hostages were 60-year-old Fernando Simon Marman and 70-year-old Louis Har, police said. The operation was carried out jointly by the Israeli army, the Shin Bet secret service and the Israeli police. It was the first freeing of civilian hostages from Gaza since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel. At the end of October, Israeli special forces had already freed a female soldier. In addition, more than 100 hostages were released in November as part of an exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
According to Israeli information, around 1,160 people were brutally killed and 250 were kidnapped as hostages in the Gaza Strip when Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organization by the EU and the USA, attacked Israel on October 7th. Before the two hostages were freed on Monday, Israel estimated that 132 hostages were still being held in Gaza, meaning 29 were dead.
Bild: (APA/AFP/Israeli Army/-)
Daring rescue operation
Argentine President Javier Milei wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that those freed were Israeli-Argentine dual citizens. Israeli President Yitzhak (Isaac) Herzog responded to Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz also thanked the special forces and said they would continue to do everything “to free all hostages from the control of the murderous terrorist organization.”
During the liberation, “three terrorists were killed in the building where they were being held,” the army said. The two hostages were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on October 7th. After their release, they were taken to a hospital in Ramat Gan. The son-in-law of one of those freed told Israeli media that despite being held hostage for more than four months, the 70-year-old was in comparatively good condition; he just looked a bit thin and pale.
Dozens dead in Rafah
According to army spokesman Daniel Hagari, just a minute after the building was stormed, Israel’s air force began attacks in the Rafah area to enable the emergency services to withdraw. According to Palestinian sources, dozens of people, including children and women, were killed in the nighttime attacks by the Israeli military. The information provided by both sides could not initially be independently verified.
Image: (APA/AFP/MOHAMMED ABED)
The attacks in Rafah hit 14 houses and three mosques in different parts of the city, the health ministry of the radical Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas said on Monday. The Israeli military had recently announced that “a series of attacks on terrorist targets in the Shaboura area in the southern Gaza Strip” had been carried out. Shaboura is near the city of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinian internally displaced people have sought shelter.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk is very concerned about the Israeli attacks on Rafah and accuses Israel of “collective punishment of the Palestinians” after the Hamas terror of October 7th. “This collective punishment of the Palestinians, especially the disconnection from humanitarian aid, is a violation of international humanitarian law,” the Austrian told the Ö1-Morgenjournal. He has “serious concerns” that Israel’s actions are proportionate.
“Terrible” situation in the south
Türk, who is taking part in a meeting of EU development ministers in Brussels on Monday, described the situation in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip as “terrible. I can’t really think of any words that can describe the situation at the moment.” Before the war, Rafah had a population of around 300,000 people. There are now 1.4 million – without adequate nutrition and humanitarian support.
“We must continue to put pressure on Israel,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday before a meeting of EU development ministers in Brussels. In view of Israel’s impending military action in the south of the Gaza Strip, more must be done than “just expressing our concern,” said Borrell. The EU chief diplomat indirectly called for a stop to US arms deliveries to Israel, without clearly naming the USA.
International criticism of the ground offensive
Israel is also planning a military offensive on Rafah on the ground. This is causing clear criticism internationally, including from Austria. According to eyewitnesses, the Israeli military has already attacked targets in the city from the air on several occasions. However, Israeli ground troops have not yet been deployed there. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered the country’s army on Friday to prepare an offensive on Rafah. The army should therefore prepare the evacuation of civilians in Rafah.
Rafah is considered the last refuge for Palestinian civilians in view of the Israeli military operation against the terrorist organization Hamas. The town, which had around 300,000 inhabitants before the war, is now said to be home to well over a million Palestinians. Critics accuse Israel of having ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip in mind. Hamas warned on Sunday that an Israeli offensive would “torpedo” any agreement to release the hostages it is still holding in the Gaza Strip.
