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The rescue of four hostages will reshuffle both the war and the political game

Great news to wake up to. In a daring rescue operation the IDF liberated Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv earlier today after 245 days in captivity.

Israel needed a break; it needed good news and it needed to end the feeling that its government had written off the hostages as collateral damage. It also was desperate for evidence that many of the hostages were still alive and, not unimportant, in relatively good health. The videos and photos this morning on social media were something else, the particulars of the daring operation itself were truly breathtaking. Initial and unverified reports mentioned that troops moved into the area in a furniture truck driven by a female soldier. Now, this has far reaching consequences on many levels, and here is a quick assessment:

• Today Benny Gantz had scheduled a press conference to announce that he would leave the war cabinet, throwing Israel into deep political turmoil. This has now been postponed and it as yet unclear what Gantz’s next move will be. The coalition may have been saved from the brink and Nethanyahu’s position may have strengthened all of a sudden;

• Initial evidence tells us that the hostages were held in private homes in Gaza, held by families who were paid for providing this ‘service’ by Hamas. Expect outrage in western media over the many Palestinian civilians killed in this raid, but then ask the question: what were these people doing holding innocent Israeli citizens for 245 days?

• It will setback the negotiations on a ceasefire (in which Hamas had been dragging its feet in the last few days) even further. It will shift the narrative back to Israel finishing the war on its own without a deal. But consider this: the rescue has now shown Hamas’s vulnerability and it may prompt a very different dynamic in these negotiations where Israel now all of a sudden has the upper hand as it winning the ground war. The parties may now, with additional pressure from the US and Qatar, progress these talks.

So yes, a gamechanger on a macro level and it will be interesting to see what transpires next.

But back to the individual level, it was cathartic to see Noa Argamani alive and falling into her father’s arms, Noa the woman whose kidnap on a motorcycle had become one of the most shared October 7th images. Many doubted she was still alive, many thought she was pregnant and abused, yet here she was and she was quickly dismissed from the hospital after an initial checkup. After that she was on her way to Ichilov hospital in Tel-Aviv to visit her dying mother. And then there is Andrey Kozlov who got a hug from Bibi Nethanyahu and who simply was in a different state of mind and somewhat confused about how surreal it all was: what is happening?

To be clear: there are still another 120 hostages (of which 43 are said to be no longer alive) and one IDF soldier from the counter terrorism unit lost his life during the mission: Arnon Zemorah, may his memory be a blessing.

Onward. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.