Israel hostage rescue of Ori Megidish the work of Shin Bet

A daring hostage rescue carried out by Israeli special forces inside Gaza on Monday was led by the country’s domestic security service, Shin Bet.

Private Ori Megidish, left.

A daring hostage rescue carried out by Israeli special forces inside Gaza on Monday was led by the country’s domestic security service, Shin Bet, after it received specific intelligence regarding the female soldier’s whereabouts ahead of a planned ground ­incursion.

In a coup that unified the ­nation and renewed hopes among the families of other hostages, Private Ori Megidish was rescued in an operation directed by army and intelligence chiefs watching from a situation room inside Israel. Authorities confirmed that they had become aware of Private Megidish’s ­location and mounted the operation specifically to save her.

The news emerged hours after Hamas released a proof-of-life video of three additional ­female captives abducted from southern Israel on October 7, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called “cruel psychological propaganda”, and which numerous media outlets chose not to publish. They are among at least 230 hostages being held captive in Gaza.

Israelis were left reeling on Monday after it was established that 22-year-old German-Israeli citizen Shani Louk, who was filmed lying face down on the back of a truck en route to Gaza, and who many had hoped was still alive, was in fact deceased after parts of her skull were located and tested by authorities.

Addressing the nation after Private Megidish’s release, Mr Netanyahu invoked some of his strongest language to date when describing the objectives of the Israel Defence Forces, warning that there would be no ceasefire agreement of the kind being sought by Hamas and “further steps” beyond a ground incursion were being discussed by his war cabinet.

“We will continue to hunt you. We will strike you until you fall at our feet,” Mr Netanyahu said. In recent days Mr Netanyahu’s rhetoric has shifted to describe the war as one not only relevant to Israel’s survival but one of increasing significance to Western democracies and the rest of the Arab world.

“If Hamas is not defeated, then the axis of evil will win. And if the axis of evil wins, the free world will lose. The Western world and the entire Arab world will lose, and there will be a great threat to humanity,” he said.

The rescue of Private Megidish occurred on a day when the IDF said it had struck upwards of 300 military targets inside Gaza, among them subterranean compounds belonging to Hamas ­terrorists, and as Israeli ground soldiers called in airstrikes on Hamas antitank and machine gunner positions.

‘We will fight in alleys, we will fight in tunnels, we will fight wherever necessary. We will eliminate the abominable enemy before whom we stand.’

Among those killed were the commander of Hamas’ Beit Lahia Battalion, Nasim Abu Ajina, accused by the IDF of ordering some of the massacres that occurred in southern Israel on October 7. The Israeli military said Abu Ajina was killed in an airstrike and his loss would severely impact Hamas’ field capabilities.

“In the past, Abu Ajina commanded Hamas’ Aerial Array, and took part in the development of the UAVs and paragliders of the terrorist organisation,” the IDF said. “His elimination significantly harms the efforts of the Hamas terrorist organisation to disrupt the IDF’s ground activities.”

No soldiers were injured during the operation to save Private ­Megidish, officials said, and she was reunited with her family after undergoing a medical assessment and debriefing with intelligence officers.

Her return was met with jubilation by family members, with images released showing her being embraced by her mother and grandmother at a party thrown by friends and relatives.

“We are overjoyed,” her aunt, Smadar, said outside the family home. “We are excited and grateful to the All Mighty, to all the people of Israel, to our soldiers.”

The rescue occurred a day after Mr Netanyahu assured the Israeli public that the entry of forces into Gaza would not inhibit the rescue of hostages, saying he was “prevented” from explaining this reasoning further – beyond stating that a deliberate weakening of Hamas’ leadership would improve Israel’s negotiating power.

Private Megidish is the fifth hostage to be brought back to Israel and the first to be proactively rescued, Hamas having earlier set free four women in two separate hand-offs in conjunction with the International Red Cross at the Egyptian border.

Two of those women were American citizens, Natalie Raanan and her mother Judith; Natalie had been visiting Israel at the time of her capture on October 7.

Family members of the women depicted in the latest hostage video, identified as Yelena Tropanov, Danielle Aloni and Rimon Kirscht, responded to the release of the footage with a plea that all the remaining hostages be returned home immediately.

Ms Tropanov’s husband was murdered on the day she was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, with her mother, son and her son’s girlfriend also taken captive. Ms Aloni was captured from the same kibbutz and is being held along with her sister, brother-in-law and twin nieces. Ms Kirscht was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nirim with her husband.

“In our family, only four of 10 remain,” said Ms Aloni’s father, Ramos, who described his relief of knowing his daughter was alive. “I ask and demand that the Red Cross not stand on the sidelines, but take initiative and demand to see all of our hostages.”

Late on Tuesday (AEDT) the head of the IDF’s southern command, Major General Yaron Finkelman, addressed troops in the Gaza Strip, seeming to signal via radio broadcast that the next wave of the ground incursion into the territory had arrived.

“We have one goal - victory. No matter how long or how hard the fighting will be, there is no other outcome than victory,” General Finkelman said.

“We will fight in alleys, we will fight in tunnels, we will fight wherever necessary. We will eliminate the abominable enemy before whom we stand.”