Two hostages home, 134 to go - comment

 At least a couple times a week, my wife says, “I hope we wake up tomorrow with the news that some hostages have been released.”

Monday morning, as I woke up to check the score of the Super Bowl, my attention was diverted to the reports of the daring rescue of  Fernando Marman and Louis Norbeto Har, who were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak.

“Good morning,” I nudged to the other side of the bed. “You have good news this morning.”

It was, in fact, the first good news about any of the 136 hostages who are presumed to be still held by Hamas in Gaza since Ori Megidish was rescued in late October and the November rounds of releases of 110 hostages during a ceasefire agreement.

Since then, there’s been despair that the hostages are dying – in IDF assaults on Hamas, through deteriorating medical conditions, or in late December,  when IDF troops mistakenly shot and killed three escaped hostages they mistook for terrorists.

Monday’s news was a boost of light for the country and a ray of hope for the remaining hostages  -it was an incredibly complex operation that confirms that the decision-makers in the government and military front offices are making every effort to free those languishing in Gaza.

As IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, who has remained a calm, firm, reliable voice of reason and determination  throughout the war, said this morning in a direct comment to the hostages, "To the hostages in Gaza, if you can hear me, we will not waste a single opportunity to bring you home.”

Of course, since we are Jews, Monday morning’s elation was tempered with the grief over the deaths of two more soldiers in Gaza, Sgt. -Maj. Adi Eldor, 21, from Haifa, and Sgt. -Maj. Alon Kleinman, 21, from Tel Aviv.

Decisions remain about Rafah

It was a reminder that the ongoing battle for a secure Israel is not going to be achieved without painful sacrifice. The government still faces huge decisions about what to do in Rafah, where the two hostages were rescued from, and where the Hamas brain trust and the rest of the hostages are presumably being held.

Monday’s triumphant operation gives strong ammunition, so to speak, that a military campaign into Rafah is the most effective way to achieve the goals of destroying the remaining Hamas battalions and freeing the remaining hostages.

Will the rescue of Marman and Har be enough of an embarrassment to the Hamas leadership that it will realize the walls are closing in and soften its ceasefire demands in the hopes of surviving and staving off an IDF Rafah invasion?

Probably not, but the daring raid in the middle of their last ‘sovereign’ area in Gaza is undoubtedly a significant blow to their morale.

For Israel, though, it’s a big morale booster.

While the operation was underway, millions of people were tuned into the Super Bowl in Las Vegas.

When  I finally did check the score and saw that underdogs, and thus my favorite, the San Francisco 49ers, had lost in overtime by a score of 25-22 to the Kansas City Chiefs, it didn’t bother me.

Because in Israel, there was a different, much more momentous score to take into account.

Two home, 134 to go.