Argentinian-Israelis Fernando Marman (61) and Luis Har (70) have finally been reunited with their loved ones after four months in Hamas captivity. The two were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on the morning of October 7 and are the second successful rescue operation of Israeli hostages.
Earlier this week, Israeli officials shut down international calls to avoid a military offensive inside Rafah, the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip, which borders Egypt. Israeli officials explained that Rafah serves as a smuggling haven for the enclave’s terror groups.
Hamas was holding Israeli hostages, Marman and Har, on the second floor of a building in Rafah. The IDF knew their location and planned the operation for a long time to ensure its success. At 1:00 a.m. on February 12, the IDF and Shin Bet carried out their mission. Some of the Israeli special forces had landed on the roof of the building and entered the compound, having to do so before the Hamas terrorists understood what was happening and retaliated. They broke into the building by busting through a locked door and immediately exchanged gunfire with Palestinian terrorists in the building and other adjacent buildings.
Marman and Har had been sleeping and were awoken by gunfire. Not understanding what was happening, the two hostages were sure that they were going to die. One of the IDF special forces called out in Hebrew: “We have come to save you. You’re coming home.” As the special forces exchanged fire with the Palestinian terrorists, the soldiers shielded the hostages with their bodies. As the two were transferred to rescue vehicles, one of the Shin Bet fighters noticed that Luis was barefoot and carried him so that he would not injure his feet from the glass and stones on the floor. He then took off his boots and put them on Luis.
Israel proudly announced that two hostages had been rescued as Marman and Har flew to Israel’s Tel Hashomer Hospital, where they were reunited with their families. Marman and five members of his family were kidnapped on October 7. Clara Marman, 62, Gabriela Leimberg, 59, and her daughter Mia Leimberg, 17 (and Mia’s dog!), were released in November.
Israel under scrutiny
LIKE EVERY move it has made since October 7, Israel’s operation in Rafah has come under international scrutiny. Indeed, pro-Hamas activists love to call for a ceasefire on behalf of the terror group that infiltrated, murdered, raped, burned, and beheaded over 1200 of our citizens and kidnapped over 230 hostages. A ceasefire without the return of our remaining hostages and with Hamas remaining in power is not a reality Israelis can accept. With that, the IDF had no choice but to begin operating in Rafah.
Understandably, this is causing international panic as more than 1.4 million Palestinians have fled to Rafah. The United States has warned Israel against staging a large-scale operation in Rafah without proper planning for evacuating citizens. As of now, Israel has not ignored Biden’s request, and the mission to extract Marman and Har was a limited special operation designed to rescue the hostages. This, however, did not stop social media channels from flooding with false information, with so-called public figures and politicians claiming that this was the beginning of Israel’s large-scale onslaught.
While it is true that Israel carried out airstrikes over Rafah to divert attention as soldiers executed the rescue operation, which resulted in Palestinian casualties overnight, Israel has not ignored Biden’s warnings.
After the rescue operation, the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health initially reported 100 casualties from Israeli airstrikes. Media outlets initially jumped on this number and later reduced it to 37 casualties. Hamas had purposely embedded itself and the hostages in civilian populated areas, knowing that Israel would have to enter Rafah to rescue its citizens. The IDF spokesperson, Daniel Hagari said, “Many terrorists were eliminated tonight in this action, including at least three in the building where the hostages were held.”
Israel has neutralized several Hamas terrorists who were also senior officers in the Rafah district’s secret police department through targeted airstrikes. However, there is still work to be done to eliminate Hamas in that area.
This is war, and it is ugly and unfair, and Israel was dragged into an operation it did not want. Israel has agreed with the Americans that providing safe evacuation to Palestinian refugees is crucial before it begins any ground invasion into Rafah, and it will not be cavalier about doing so. We do not want innocent Palestinians to die; we want to bring our hostages home and rid ourselves of a genocidal terror organization.
The international community may not like this, but we have learned time and time again that Jewish people can’t rely on others for their well-being. For anyone to tell Israel to ignore Hamas’s threats is just a polite way of telling us to wait until the terror group attempts to murder us again.
The writer is a social media activist with more than 10 years of experience working for Israeli and Jewish causes and cause-based NGOs. She is the co-founder and COO of Social Lite Creative, a digital marketing firm specializing in geopolitics.