Source: TheLastAmericanVagabond.com
As the war in Gaza entered its ninth month, Israeli forces finally managed to free four of its some 130 captives held in the besieged coastal territory, and during the process massacred over 200 Palestinian civilians. Praising the operation as a “daring” achievement, the US government didn’t bother to mention the simultaneous massacre, as it appears that the temporary “humanitarian aid” pier constructed by the American military was just exploited for military purposes.
What Just Happened?
Touted as a major victory by the Israeli regime, on Saturday special forces soldiers reportedly disguised themselves in civilian clothing and were driving a humanitarian aid truck in order to infiltrate the Nuseirat area in central Gaza. Shortly after entering the densely populated civilian area, close to a street market and inhabited buildings, the Israeli forces were discovered by Hamas fighters from its armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, who ambushed them. Israel then used warships, attack helicopters, drones, fighter jets, and sent in military re-enforcements on the ground
Although all the details of what transpired are yet to be released, Israel has admitted that a special forces commander, Arnon Zamora, was killed during the raid and initial reports from the Hebrew media at the time were asking people to pray for the lives of their soldiers after a “security incident”. Zamora was the commander of a Yamam special forces unit, which is connected to the Israeli border police, while it was also reported that the Shin Bet (Israeli internal intelligence force ) participated, while the army was deployed around the area.
According to a report in Israeli ‘Now 14 News‘, two separate buildings that were inhabited by civilians, were raided and were 200 meters apart from each other; one containing three captives and the other containing the fourth. The report confirmed that at least one Israeli soldier was wounded at the site of one of the civilian buildings, which was not reported by the Israeli army at that time. Now 14 News also noted that a helicopter landing was attempted but failed and that the Israeli special forces had to enter the building in another way. This rings true with a testimony collected by the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor who reported that:
“…the Israeli army used a ladder to enter the home of Dr. Ahmed Al-Jamal. The army immediately executed 36-year-old Fatima Al-Jamal upon encountering her on the staircase. The forces then stormed the house and executed her husband, journalist Abdullah Al-Jamal, 36, and his father, Dr. Ahmed, 74, in front of his grandchildren. The army also shot their daughter, Zainab, 27, who sustained serious injuries.”
In an initial testimony documenting the killings committed by the Israeli army in the Nuseirat camp today, the @EuroMedHR reported that the Israeli army used a ladder to enter the home of Dr. Ahmed Al-Jamal. The army immediately executed 36-year-old Fatima Al-Jamal upon… pic.twitter.com/DjfjerIZTf
— Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) June 8, 2024
While an Israeli special forces unit was caught up in an ambush, another entered the buildings to reach the four captives. Yet, as the clashes broke out, Israeli forces sent missile strikes into surrounding civilian populated buildings and a packed market place, which ended up inflicted one of the largest massacres thus far during the eight month war. Reports indicated that civilians weren’t only killed by a massive series of airstrikes and bullet fire from drones, but also from soldiers on the ground. The assault left “mangled bodies of men, women and children strewn around a marketplace and a mosque“, as a local paramedic described the scene as being “like a horror movie”, according to reports cited by Reuters.
Although the time line for the rescue mission on the Israeli side has been kept vague, we do know that they used humanitarian aid trucks as a military cover and that they transported the four re-captured captives through the nearby American built temporary “humanitarian aid” pier. While we don’t yet have confirmation that the fake aid truck used had originally passed through the US pier, it seems very plausible, especially as the pier was just re-connected to Gaza on June 7, a day prior to this operation taking place. It is extremely suspicious to say the least, that this pier just so happens to be reconnected to land the day prior and it is supposed to be used only for aid transfer purposes. Clearly the pier has now become a valid military target, where US forces operating it collaborated with the Israelis to complete a military operation in which over 200 civilians were killed.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, The New York Times revealed that “a team of American hostage recovery officials stationed in Israel assisted the Israeli military’s effort to rescue the four captives by providing intelligence and other logistical support”. An unnamed US official also told Axios that “the U.S. hostage cell in Israel supported the effort to rescue the four hostages”, without providing any further details as to whether any US forces were actually deployed on the ground.
The response of US President Joe Biden was to commend the Israeli operation, not even mentioning the massacre that his forces clearly were aware of and to an extent participated in, while US National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, hailed it as “daring”.
An interesting aspect of this was why a single captive would be held in one building, while three others were held elsewhere, which has sparked many theories online. In a communique later issued by the spokesperson of the Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida, it was revealed that Israeli forces had ended up killing other Israeli captives during their mission, yet the specifics have not been clarified at this point, by either side.
What This Means?
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has praised the military operation in both Hebrew and English, delivering his usual on the so-called heroics of “the most moral army on earth”. However, what was interesting about his statement released in English was his tone and body language, he did not seem uplifted in the slightest and it appeared as if he was nervous about something. He also said about the captives that “we expect Hamas to release them all”, which was interesting, as it suggests he has let go of hopes that all of them would be released by force….