Yedioth Ahronoth reveals operations carried out in Gaza to try to recover live hostages during the war

Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth revealed on Friday that over two years of the war on the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army, in cooperation with the security establishment, attempted to rescue captives held by Hamas.

The Hebrew paper said a considerable number of operations were initiated; some were carried out and succeeded in recovering some captives.

The paper reported that some operations were on the verge of execution but were halted at the last moment for fear that the captives or the forces carrying out the operations would be harmed, and that some operations that were carried out ended tragically with the deaths of captives who could not be rescued.

Some families of the Israeli captives opposed operations that were carried out or planned, such as the Rafah operation in which two elderly captives were recovered; their families believed there was a risk either to the captives or to the soldiers, particularly because the captives were elderly and their release would likely be secured in any exchange deal.

The paper indicates that most of the deceased captives whose bodies were recovered were found inside tunnels, and there were no confrontations with Hamas fighters who were outside those tunnels, whereas operations to rescue live captives took place in buildings above ground.

It said the failure to free live captives from tunnels was due to the army’s fear that those tunnels would be detonated with large explosive charges, which could ultimately cause a rescue attempt to fail.

The paper discloses, for the first time, an operation that preceded the Rafah raid by a long period — specifically in the first month after the Oct. 7 attack and up until shortly before the first prisoner exchange deal in November 2023.

It said a mission was prepared to rescue several children and a woman who were then being held in Gaza; the operation was readied very quickly at a stage when the ground maneuver was in its early phases and confined to the northern part of the Strip only.

It noted that when preparations reached an advanced stage the operation was canceled on orders from the highest levels because of concern for the hostages’ lives, especially since they had been classified as civilians and were to be released in the first batch.

The paper revealed an attempt to rescue a captive from a house in Khan Younis in December 2023, after a special force from “Sayeret Matkal” arrived. Soldiers placed a small explosive device at the house entrance and detonated it remotely, but Hamas operatives immediately threw several hand grenades that exploded one after another, wounding some soldiers, some seriously. The incident delayed the operation; the captive inside was killed, and militants took control of his body and fled with it.

The report acknowledges that some Israeli captives were killed by airstrikes on areas where they were being held, despite a special unit tasked with reviewing such cases approving strikes only after determining that no captives were present.

An Israeli security source claimed the operations occurred unintentionally and without prior knowledge, saying there had been particular political pressure to move faster — especially in the early months of the war — to achieve results and eliminate as many senior operatives as possible, while some senior military and security leaders at times preferred to wait and act more cautiously.