Information on the hostage rescue, and Hamas’ claims of casualties, can be found here: “Israeli forces rescue 2 hostages in dramatic Gaza raid that killed at least 67 Palestinians,” Associated Press, February 12, 2024:
The ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, provided the breakdown at the request of The Associated Press. Israel claims to have killed about 10,000 Hamas fighters.
In Hamas’ cross-border raid on Oct. 7, an estimated 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed, and militants took 250 people captive, according to Israeli authorities.
Israel says about 100 hostages remain in Hamas captivity after dozens were freed during a cease-fire in November. Hamas also holds the remains of roughly 30 others who were either killed on Oct. 7 or died in captivity….
We know that at least 30 of the hostages have died in captivity, most likely simply murdered by their captors. A few may have died because Hamas did not provide them with the life-saving medicines they needed. The Israelis are keeping quiet about the murder of captives, for fear of endangering the lives of those who are still being held.
The government of Israel tried to make a hostages-for-prisoners swap with Hamas. But Hamas’ demands, as Prime Minister Netanyahu said, are “delusional.” The terror group demands not a “ceasefire,” but a total pullout from Gaza by the IDF, leaving Hamas in place as ruler of the Strip. It demands the release of 1,500 terrorists, including at least 500 of whom are serving life sentences for murdering Israelis. Furthermore, perhaps most delusional of all, Hamas also demands that Jews no longer be allowed to visit the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism. Since Israel cannot possibly agree to such demands, the hostages will not be released through negotiation, but only through steadily increasing military pressure, squeezing Hamas, and threatening to “neutralize” its top leaders in Gaza. Those leaders might be allowed by Israel to flee through the Rafah Crossing into Egypt, if Hamas first releases all of the remaining hostages.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said special forces broke into a second-floor apartment in Rafah under fire at 1:49 a.m. Monday, accompanied a minute later by airstrikes on surrounding areas. He said Hamas militants were guarding the captives and that members of the rescue team shielded the hostages with their bodies as the battle erupted….
The airstrikes hit jam-packed Rafah in the middle of the night and dozens of explosions could be heard around 2 a.m. Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesman for the Health Ministry, said at least 67 people, including women and children, were killed in the strikes….
The Israelis managed to pinpoint exactly in what house in a residential neighborhood of Rafah, and in what second floor apartment, the two hostages were held. They knew the exact location for weeks, but held back out of fear that the hostages might be killed in a rescue operation. They finally decided it was worth the risk, believing they had to strike before the major invasion of Rafah began. It is not certain, but as far one can piece together the event, apparently the IDF soldiers were dropped from a helicopter onto the roof of the house, from where they rappelled down to the second floor, and after “neutralizing” the guards, rushed into the room where the hostages were being held, and grabbed them. This part of the operation place at precisely 1:49 a.m. One minute later, airstrikes began, in order to cause chaos and confusion among the Hamas fighters in the area; dozens died from the airstrikes and others were killed as the Israelis shot their way out of the house, and put the hostages on a waiting helicopter that whisked them out of Rafah. The whole operation took about 40 minutes.
This successful raid, by the way, took place the day after the egregious Joe Biden tried to dissuade the IDF from entering Rafah. The government of Israel ignored him. And two former hostages are alive and well today because Biden was ignored. Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn’t need Biden presumptuously lecturing him, when he told the Israeli Prime Minister that “a military operation in Rafah should not proceed without a credible and executable plan” for protecting and supporting the Palestinians sheltering there. Given how effectively the IDF has kept the civilian-to-combatant death ratio down to 3:2, which is a lower ratio than any other modern army — including the American military — has been able to achieve, Biden should have more faith in the ability of the IDF to minimize casualties with a “credible and executable plan.” Even now the IDF is deciding on the best routes for Gazans to take from Rafah to safe areas sufficiently distant from the city before it becomes a major battlefield. Does anyone, other than the Bidenites, doubt Israel’s ability to achieve this, and to minimize casualties in Rafah, just as it has done in Khan Younis and Gaza City?