The United Nations warned Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during last weekend’s hostage rescue mission, and Hamas may have for where those hostages were held.
Israeli forces rescued four hostages during the raid in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza, but there was a significant, albeit disputed, death toll. Gaza health officials controlled by Hamas estimated the death toll to be more than 270, while the Israel Defense Forces said the total was “less than 100.”
“We are profoundly shocked at the impact on civilians of the Israeli forces’ operation in An Nuseirat at the weekend to secure the release of four hostages,” said Jeremy Laurence, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. “Hundreds of Palestinians, many of them civilians, were reportedly killed and injured. The manner in which the raid was conducted in such a densely populated area seriously calls into question whether the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution — as set out under the laws of war — were respected by the Israeli forces.”
Laurence also said they were “deeply distressed that Palestinian armed groups continue to hold many hostages, most of them civilians, which is prohibited by international humanitarian law,” and added, “By holding hostages in such densely populated areas, the armed groups doing so are putting the lives of Palestinian civilians, as well as the hostages themselves, at added risk from the hostilities.”
The mission was weeks in the planning, though a firefight broke out between Israeli forces and militants with civilians around them both. Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41, were held on the third floor of a building, while Noa Argamani, 26, was held on the first floor of a nearby building. The guards with the three male hostages were not taken by surprise during the daring daytime operation.
“Immediately, it became a war zone,” said Amir Avivi, a reservist brigadier general and former deputy commander of the IDF’s Gaza division who was briefed on the operation, according to the Washington Post.
The news of the rescue operation prompted widespread celebration in Israel. Roughly 250 Israeli hostages were kidnapped during the Oct. 7 attack, and about 120 of them are still held in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas has not released any hostages since the conclusion of the weeklong ceasefire in late November, when about 100 were freed. Since then, Israel and Hamas have failed to come to a second agreement despite efforts by U.S., Egyptian, and Qatari mediators.
The United States, U.N. Security Council, and several other Western governments have said they support the current ceasefire proposal. Israel has agreed to the deal, and the world awaits Hamas’s response.
The deal, if agreed upon, would include three phases. The first phase would include the cessation of fighting, the return of female Israeli hostages, the release of likely thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli detention, the surge of humanitarian aid, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from populated areas of Gaza.
Details of what the second phase would include would be hammered out during the first phase, which would be set to last six weeks, though it would be extended if negotiations for the second phase are not agreed upon by the end of that cessation period. The second phase would include the release of the remaining living hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
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Israeli leaders have maintained their goal is to ensure the military defeat of Hamas and the removal of it from power in Gaza, while Hamas wants a permanent ceasefire to ensure it can remain in power. It is unclear how this proposal would solve those differences, though the Biden administration agrees with Israel that Hamas should not be in power once the war is over.
On Monday, the U.N. Security Council voted to approve a U.S.-drafted resolution announcing support for the ceasefire proposal.