Scene of Israeli rescue mission in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, on June 8, 2024. (Khaled Ali/Flash90)
According to reports, both men and women who turned out to be IDF special forces were dressed as Gazans and said in Arabic they were refugees looking for a place to live.
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
Palestinian witnesses told a Saudi news outlet that IDF special forces disguised themselves as Gazan civilians and Hamas terrorists in preparation for the hostage rescue operation.
The Saudi-owned Asharq news channel claimed that both men and women who turned out to be IDF special forces were dressed as Gazans and said in Arabic they were refugees looking for a place to live.
Witnesses said they drove in a white car with mattresses tied at the top, and women were dressed in clothes “that women are wearing here in the war.”
They claimed they were fleeing Rafah and wanted to rent a building close to the market in Nuseirat, indicating to the building where Noa Argamani was being held and the other three rescued hostages — Andrey Kozlov, Shlomi Ziv, and Almog Meir Jan — were being held 200 meters away.
The unit was comprised of mista‘aravim, or special forces that try to blend in with Palestinians and speak the language fluently.
Although some witnesses claimed that the special forces got into the area through aid trucks, the IDF denies this.
It is believed they arrived at Nuseirat camp through an area adjacent to the American maritime aid pier.
Saudi news network Al-Arabiya reported that a man said what appeared to be Hamas terrorists were storming into his neighbor’s residence.
Although they wore Hamas military uniforms, helmets, and badges, they were IDF soldiers.
The man said there was an “insane exchange of fire” and that planes fired at the building of his neighbor Ahmed Aljamal “from every direction.”
They also claimed that the IDF used ladders to gain access to Aljamal’s house.
The same X post described Ahmed’s son Abdallah Aljamal as a journalist and a spokesman for the Hamas-run labor ministry in Gaza.
On Sunday the IDF confirmed that Abdallah Aljamal was holding hostages Meir Jan, Kozlov and Ziv in his home alongside his family.
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