The United States is helping Israel search for and free hostages in the Gaza Strip, but the United States did not send its military to participate in Saturday’s operation, Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, said.
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The day before, the Israeli army, the Yamam anti-terrorist police unit and the Shin Bet intelligence service rescued four Israelis from Palestinian captivity.
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“The United States has been supporting Israel for several months in identifying sites where hostages are being held in Gaza and releasing them,” Sullivan told CNN, declining to elaborate.
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“One thing I can say: American forces… were not involved in this operation,” he added.
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Sullivan called on the Palestinian Hamas movement to accept the truce proposal in the Gaza Strip and release the remaining hostages.
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On October 7, Israel was subjected to an unprecedented-scale rocket attack from the Gaza Strip as part of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, announced by the military wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement.
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After this, the organization’s fighters entered the border areas in southern Israel, where they opened fire on both military and civilians, and also took more than 200 hostages. In Israel, according to the latest data from the authorities, about 1.2 thousand people were killed, this number includes civilians, soldiers, foreign citizens and workers, and it was also reported that more than 5 thousand were injured.
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In response, the Israel Defense Forces launched Operation Iron Swords against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Within a few days, the Israeli military took control of all populated areas near the border with Gaza and began carrying out air strikes on targets, including civilians, in the strip. Israel also announced a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip: the supply of water, food, electricity, medicine, and fuel was stopped. At the end of October, the ground phase of the Israeli operation in the enclave began. Gaza City was surrounded by Israeli ground forces, and the enclave was effectively divided into southern and northern parts.
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The death toll from Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip exceeded 36.5 thousand, and about 83 thousand people were injured, the Gaza Ministry of Health reported.
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Hamas claimed that there were about 200-250 hostages in the Gaza Strip. After the end of the truce, Israeli authorities announced that 126 Israelis and 11 foreigners remained hostage with Hamas, and 110 abducted were released.
