(NewsNation) — Elite Israeli commandos successfully rescued four Israeli hostages held in Gaza in a weekend raid, using the code words “we have the diamonds” to confirm the operation was a success.
The raid deep inside the densely populated Gaza Strip saw Israeli forces, disguised as Palestinian civilians and Hamas fighters, infiltrate and extract the hostages from two apartment buildings under heavy fire.
Jonathan Conricus, a former Israeli military spokesman, said Monday on NewsNation’s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” that Israel spent weeks gathering intelligence to pinpoint the hostages’ locations.
He said the hostages were being guarded by Hamas militants inside apartments belonging to a doctor and journalist, which Conricus said shows complicity between Hamas and Gaza’s civilians.
“Every day, we get evidence that suggests exactly the opposite, that there is a tremendous support of the civilian population for all of the military activities that Hamas does,” Conricus said.
While Hamas said 274 civilians were killed in the raid, Israel disputed the number, saying only 100 may have died, and most were combatants. Conricus defended the civilian casualties.
“If you don’t want war in your neighborhood, don’t hold Israeli civilians there,” he said. “I don’t think anybody has any justified claim to be counting bodies.”
The rescue operation was Israel’s most successful since the start of the war, bringing home four of the roughly 250 captives seized by Hamas in its Oct. 7 cross-border attack, including Noa Argamani, who became an icon of the struggle to free the hostages.
The hostage rescue comes as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the region for the eighth time since October, pushing a three-stage cease-fire plan between Israel and Hamas that would permanently end fighting and release all hostages.
On Monday, the U.N. Security Council passed a U.S. resolution endorsing the cease-fire plan amid growing pressure. But so far, Hamas has not accepted the proposal.
“The only party that has not accepted, that has not said yes, is Hamas,” Blinken said. “That’s who everyone’s waiting on.”