Why it is almost impossible for Israel to launch a rescue operation for hundreds of hostages in Gaza

Israel this Thursday notified their families of the identity of 97 people kidnapped on Saturday by the Islamic movement Hamas and taken to Link. But not all of them, as the terrorists claimed to have 130 hostages. At this point, it is worth asking whether Israel’s strategy to bring them back could be aimed at a rescue, and what chance of success such a plan would have, considering that it would be carried out in the midst of the fierce bombings that are causing a humanitarian catastrophe. in the Palestinian enclave, where more than 2 million people have nowhere to go.

To contextualize the conflict scenario, it must be indicated that the Gaza strip It measures 40 kilometers long and a maximum of 12 kilometers wide. It is inhabited by 2.3 million Palestinians, who live in overcrowded conditions.

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The Gaza Strip. (AFP).

Link is governed by Hamas since 2007. Two years earlier, Israel had left the enclave he occupied in 1967, after winning the Six Day War between Arabs and Israelis.

Hamas was built in Link a huge network of tunnels which are used as hiding places and for him smuggling of weapons who enter through Egypt.

Smoke rises from the port of Gaza after an Israeli air strike on Thursday, October 12, 2023. (EFE/MOHAMMED SABER). (MOHAMMED SABER/)

These are the conditions of the land where more than 100 people are captives, including soldiers, women, elderly people and children. Many of them are foreigners, including from the United States. Trying to rescue them will be a difficult task.

“The situation is unprecedented” Gershon Baskin, who helped negotiate the release of Sgt. Gilad Shalitwho was kidnapped for five years in Link per Hamas.

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Shalit was released following an agreement that involved the release from Israeli prisons of 1,027 Palestinians, several of them sentenced to life in prison, including the current leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yehia Sinwar.

Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, on October 18, 2011, after his release. (Photo PMO/AFP). (-/)

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“I believe that Hamas He was surprised at how easily he was able to take hostages. Israel “I was completely baffled by everything that happened.”Baskin added.

No one knows where the hostages are hiding. They could be in the underground tunnels or in the huge refugee camps in Link.

Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert and professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, wrote that It is likely that the hostages have already been dispersed throughout the country. Linkand that their hiding places are probably full of traps.

“This is a challenge of a magnitude never before faced.”Hoffman said. “We know how this crisis will end, but the shedding of more innocent blood – Israelis, Palestinians and, indeed, non-combatant citizens of other countries – is certain,” he added.

Palestinians transport a supposedly captured Israeli, in Khan Yunis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, on October 7, 2023. (AFP Photo) (-/)

For Baskin, the huge number of hostages means a strategic advantage for Hamasbut it also represents difficulties for the Islamists and some hope of finding them Israelas information about the whereabouts of some could be leaked. A single leaked piece of information could help rescue operations.

Although it has not yet formally invoked a negotiation, Hamas demanded the release of 5,200 prisoners who, according to Palestinians, are in Israeli prisons in exchange for captives.

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Furthermore, he threatened to kill a hostage whenever the Israeli army bombs civilian targets in Link Without previous warning.

The AP agency also specifies that Hamas It contains the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed in the 2014 war, as well as two Israeli civilians who entered its territory years ago. And it is not known whether the bodies of the soldiers were taken after Saturday’s infiltration.

In previous similar situations, Hamas never revealed the location of its hostagesnor does it give them access to organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross to verify conditions of captivity.

Even for a test of life he asks for something in return. This is what happened to the soldier Shalit two years before his release, when Because of a video that proved he was alive, Israel had to release 20 Palestinian prisoners.

A young man carries a girl after an Israeli attack, as battles between Israel and the Hamas movement continue for the sixth consecutive day in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip. (Photo by SAID KHATIB/AFP). (Said Khatib/)

¿Israel Is the safety of the hostages taken into account when ordering the massive bombing of Gaza? Apparently not, as the magnitude of the attacks makes them one of the worst in history. As of Thursday, more than 1,400 Palestinians have died and more than 300,000 had to leave their homes.

Only one Israeli minister referred to the issue of hostages and bombings, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who on Saturday demanded that the military “brutally defeat Hamas and not take the issue of captives into meaningful consideration.”

Gaza no longer has electricity. On Monday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered a complete lockdown of the enclave, meaning it would be left without electricity, water, food and fuel.

The blockade of Gaza. (AFP).

As reported in a Reuters report, Palestinians also have nowhere to escape the massive Israeli bombings.

The only power plant Linkwhich had been running intermittently for days, was shut down on Wednesday after running out of fuel. Without electricity, water cannot be pumped into homes. At night, the darkness is almost total, interrupted by fireballs from the bombs and phones used as flashlights, Reuters reported.

“I have lived through all the wars and attacks in the past, but I have never witnessed anything worse than this,” Yamen Hamad, a 35-year-old father of four whose home was destroyed by Israeli strikes in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, told Reuters.

Reuters also visited a hospital in Khan Younis, south Linkwhere he discovered that family and friends were queuing in front of a collapsed morgue, where bodies were lying on the floor because the refrigerators were full or had no electricity.

People gathered next to the bodies of victims of Israeli air strikes are in front of the morgue at al-Shifa hospital, in Gaza city, on October 12, 2023. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED/AFP). (MOHAMMED ABED/)

“Mourners were desperate to quickly bury their loved ones before the heat affected them.”. They spoke briefly to the bodies, praying that their souls would rest in peace, before carrying them to nearby graves, with stretchers if there were any, or without them,” Reuters reported.

The only border through which you can leave Gaza is Egypt, but it is blocked by the Egyptian authorities.

In this context, a land invasion by Israeli troops would be a disaster, as civilians would end up between two fires: Hamas and other militias waging urban warfare against Israel.

There is no safe place for Palestinians in Gaza. Reuters exemplified this situation when narrating the case of the family of Ala al-Kafarneh, aged 31. He said he ran away from home on Saturday with his pregnant wife, father, brothers, cousins ​​and in-laws. They headed to the Beach refugee camp on the coast, where they hoped to be safer, but airstrikes began to hit that area as well, so they headed to Sheikh Radwan, another district further east.

On Tuesday night, an airstrike hit the building where Kafarneh and his family were sheltering, killing everyone except him, he said.

“We escaped danger towards death,” Kafarneh told Reuters at the gates of Shifa hospital.

Aid agencies stated that Conditions in Gaza are the worst they can remember.

This Thursday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) made a desperate appeal for the establishment of safe spaces and corridors for people to reach the organization urgently. He also demanded that people have safe access to essential supplies such as food, water and health services. Likewise, he asked to allow essential humanitarian supplies such as medicines, medical equipment, food, fuel and water to enter Gaza. “To facilitate this, the Rafah border crossing with Egypt must be opened and shelling at this crossing must stop,” the organization said.

“Fighter planes are demolishing entire streets, block by block. There is no place to hide and no time to rest. Some places are being bombed every night consecutively. We know what happened in 2014 and in 2021 thousands of people died. Every time our medical colleagues go to work, they don’t know if they will see their homes or their families again. But they say this situation is different. This time, after five days, there have already been 1,400 deaths. What can people do? Where should they go? said Matthias Kennes, head of the MSF mission in Gaza.

Source: Elcomercio