David Rosenberg, World Israel News June 10th 20024
The dramatic rescue on Saturday of
four Israeli hostages held by Hamas terrorists in the central Gaza town of
Nuseirat has led the terror group’s leaders to tighten security around the
remaining captives, The New York Times reported Monday,
including issuing standing orders to kill hostages at the first sign of a
rescue attempt.
On Saturday, Israeli security
personnel operating undercover in Nuseirat entered two apartment units where
four captives taken hostage on October 7th were being held.
Israeli special operations forces
managed to neutralize the hostages’ captors who attempted to prevent their
escape, rescue the four captives, and successfully extract the force from
central Gaza.
Monday’s Times report,
which cited both Israeli and American officials, said that following the
weekend rescue, senior Hamas leaders have instructed terrorists holding Israeli
captives to immediately shoot the hostages if they believe IDF forces may be
approaching.
Following Saturday’s rescue operation,
Hamas released a video statement claiming that three other captives, including
one with American citizenship, were killed during the operation.
The officials cited in the Times report
could neither confirm nor deny the claim, but said that if the three had indeed
been killed on Saturday, it is possible they were slain by their captors in
response to the rescue operation.
American officials told the Times that
the United States has played a significant intelligence role in the effort to
locate the captives held in Gaza.
The American military has, according
to U.S. officials, run a near continuous surveillance mission over Gaza, using
no less than six MQ-9 Reaper drone aircraft.
IDF Lieutenant Colonel (res.) Avi Kalo
said the U.S. and U.K. have both provided significant support for surveillance
and information collection, calling the joint effort with the IDF “the largest
intelligence effort ever conducted in Israel, and probably ever.”
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