ELATION AND MOURNING – A costly exercise to free 4 hostages in Gaza
They arrived in the middle of the day, when the squat concrete buildings of the Nuseirat refugee camp were hustling and bustling with activities, filling the narrow streets to the brim with people. No one suspected a thing until the shots rang out.
Israeli special forces entered the camp in 30 trucks under the pretence of bringing humanitarian aid to a starving population. Other special forces members entered the refugee camp in a vehicle with a mattress on top, posing as Palestinian refugees fleeing Rafah.
The Israeli raid caught everyone off guard, from the Hamas militants guarding four hostages in two different buildings to the thousands of civilians who soon found themselves running for their lives through a blistering crossfire.
By the time it was over, four Israeli hostages had been brought home alive and mostly unscathed, at least physically, and at least 274 Palestinians, and an Israeli commando, had been killed.
For Israel, it was the most successful operation of the eight-month war, bringing nationwide elation and removing some of the stain from the army’s unprecedented collapse on Oct. 7. For Palestinians, it was a day of horror that sent hundreds of dead and wounded flooding into already beleaguered hospitals.
The Gaza Health Ministry said 274 Palestinians were killed and around 700 were wounded. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tallies, but said the dead included 64 children and 57 women.
Khulood Shalaq, who was being treated at another hospital with her wounded 1-year-old nephew, said 14 members of her family were killed in the raid, with some still buried in the rubble. She said at one point she saw four helicopters launching missiles into the camp.
“The streets are filled with dead bodies,” she said.
However, the elation of the release of the four hostages – which should rightly be celebrated by all who were abhorred by their abduction – is tainted by the immoral and unethical nature of the exercise. Using fake humanitarian aid as a platform for war in a region where people are starving to death is not only a war crime but one of the lowest forms of human depravity witnessed in recent conflicts.
What adds insult to injury are the rumours that points to the participation of American forces stationed on the floating dock also built for humanitarian aid. This, in light of the fact that the American administration’s assertion was that this dock’s purpose was solely to pump humanitarian aid. Hostages were videoed being lifted from the dock platforms.
CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
How do we as believers deal with the tension caused by the extremes of elation and anguish? How do we contextualise the celebration of freedom while seeking comfort for the innocent who suffered? How do we justify the deaths of so many people, especially 64 guiltless children, as the price of freedom for 4 hostages.
My former boss and colleague at Open Doors International, Br Andrew – also known as God’s smuggler – understood the spiritual reality of the region. I share his insight as a spiritual perspective.
“If they can be reached, they can be saved” Andrew used to say. “There are no terrorists—only people who need Jesus,” Br.Andrew wrote in his book; Light Force. “As long as we see any person—Muslim, Communist, terrorist—as an enemy, then the love of God cannot flow through us to reach him.”
Brother Andrew’s activism rattled many Christians—both local believers and Western supporters. He was frequently critical of US evangelical support for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, seeing it as their lack of faith in the power of missions. He advocated for refugees, and prayed for Osama bin Laden—whose killing he called a “murder.”
He also condemned the “assassinations” of his “friends” in Gaza. In 2004, the Israeli military killed Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, the founder of Hamas, who seven years earlier had welcomed the Open Doors founder into his home. It was only the gospel of love, Brother Andrew consistently preached, that could answer the stalemate of Middle East conflict.
“The best way I can help Israel,” he countered his critics in Light Force, “is by leading her enemies to Jesus Christ.”
Oh may God have mercy on us and grant us the wisdom to BE the peacemakers that will distinguish us as people of the Kingdom.
1Peter_3:11 They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/ultimate-surprise-israeli-raid-freed-4-hostages-killed-110968669