Undercover Israeli spies posed as Palestinians and lived in Gaza near hostages to plot daring rescue mission
Undercover Israeli spies — including women dressed in black dresses and hijabs — rented a house in the Gaza neighborhood where four hostages were stashed, and lived there for days to gain intelligence ahead of the military’s dramatic rescue mission on Saturday, according to a report.
In scenes out of a spy movie, the Israelis posed as wealthy Gaza families displaced from Rafah by the war.
They infiltrated the Nuseirat refugee camp in hopes of confirming that 26-year-old Noa Argamani and three men were being held in the area, the Jewish Chronicle reported Thursday.
One group wearing typical Palestinian clothing and using Gazan Arabic accents walked by the home where Argamani was being held while another group secretly scouted out where Almog Meir Jan, 26, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41, were detained in a separate nearby building after a few days acclimating to the area, according to the Chronicle.
Once the presence of the hostages was confirmed, 28 commandos from the elite Yamam police counter-terrorism unit began training for the rescue.
They used two custom-built models that replicated the buildings where the hostages were, the outlet reported.
Most of the undercover agents left the area the night of June 5 and the next day, the mission got underway.
Argamani was smoothly rescued and put on a helicopter back to Israel after the terrorists guarding her were killed.
But retrieving the three men in a separate building ran into complications.
Some commandos used a ladder to reach the exact room where the hostages where being held, but about 30 Hamas terrorists in the building — armed with machine guns and grenades — opened fire, catching the Israeli commandos off-guard.
A massive firefight ensued while the three hostages were protected in a bathroom, according to the Jewish Chronicle.
During the chaos, Yamam commander Arnon Zamora, 36, was fatally wounded.
As the Israeli operators escorted the trio of hostages from the building, more Hamas terrorists emerged and started shooting toward them with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
Israel firepower from the ground, air and sea quickly arrived to help the rescue mission as hundreds of soldiers fought face to face with Hamas.
The reinforcements helped the hostages and their rescuers safely escape the area and fly back to Israel.
The Hamas-backed Gaza health ministry said 274 Palestinians were killed, though it didn’t make clear how many were Hamas terrorists.
