When commandos from Israel’s elite Yamam counter-terrorism pressure launched a daring daytime raid on two houses deep inside central Gaza and efficiently rescued 4 hostages who had forcefully been taken throughout the border on October 7, it was the primary time many individuals would study of the unit’s existence.
For years, the operations of Yamam have been shrouded in secrecy. Typically, credit score for its missions was given to different items. “Up until a few years ago, not many people knew about Yamam’s activities,” a unit supply informed Fox Information Digital. However within the age of smartphones and social media, movies of their operations have unfold on-line. “Today, with social media broadcasting operations in real-time, we understand that the rules of the game have changed,” the supply says.
Yamam — Yeḥida Merkazit Meyuḥedet, in Hebrew, or Particular Central Unit — was based in 1974 as a particular unit of Israel’s Border Police, with the first mission to take management of and resolve hostage conditions. On this regard, it’s just like the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Staff, however as a result of it is also able to speedy offensive raids, such because the hostage rescue executed in Gaza in June, it’s intently aligned with such elite American items as Delta Pressure and Navy SEALs, with whom they’re additionally mentioned to coach and cooperate.
ISRAEL RESCUES HOSTAGE AFTER 325 DAYS IN HAMAS CAPTIVITY
Yamam counter-terrorism unit in motion someplace in Israel. (Israel Police Spokesman’s Unit)
“Yamam is like an aircraft carrier with a wide range of in-house capabilities,” mentioned Zohar Dvir, a retired unit commander, informed Fox Information Digital. The unit contains specialists like snipers, bomb disposal consultants, canine handlers, medics and undercover brokers referred to as “mista’aravim.” “It’s full on ‘Fauda,” Dvir added.
“Yamam equips its personnel with cutting-edge technology,” David Tzur, a retired commander from the group, informed Fox Information Digital. “The unit serves as a testing ground for innovations, collaborating with civilian and defense industries to refine and replicate technologies for broader use.”
“What sets Yamam apart is their ability to carry out thousands of high-risk operations with exceptional precision,” Dvir defined.
“Yamam is considered one of the most experienced — if not the most experienced — counter-terrorism units globally,” a unit commander talking on the situation of anonymity, informed Fox Information Digital. “Because of the realities we face daily, countering terrorist threats in the West Bank, Yamam fighters participate in hundreds of operations each year. After Oct. 7, we joined the fight in Gaza.”
A Race Towards Time
Yamam members performed a crucial function within the latest rescue of 4 hostages held by Hamas terrorists. (Israel Police Spokesman’s Unit)
As a part of a situation of speaking to Fox Information Digital all present Yamam members withheld their full names as a result of safety issues.
Intelligence pinpointing the situation of the hostages within the densely populated Nuseirat refugee camp had been gathered weeks earlier by Shin Wager, Israel’s inner intelligence service, with the assistance of American and British drones. “We knew about the situation weeks before,” explains Captain A., a crew chief informed Fox Information Digital. “We received the mission, studied the target, and began our preparations.”
On a Saturday morning, the operatives arrived in civilian vans on the goal areas, which had been only a few hundred meters aside. Storming the two areas, they rescued the 4 hostages. On the first web site, Noa Argamani, whose terrified picture was seen worldwide as she was proven being taken away on a motorbike by terrorists from Israel on the morning of October 7, was discovered. On the second location, they rescued Shlomi Ziv, Andrey Kozlov and Almog Meir.
There was resistance, however “everything went according to plan,” mentioned Deputy Superintendent A, a key determine within the operation.
Yamam counter-terrorism unit snipers watching out for enemy forces. (Israel Police Spokesman’s Unit)
The crew confronted a very difficult scenario at Argamani’s location, the place they feared one of many terrorists was near her. “The goal was to get as close to her as quickly as possible, and that’s what we did. We only realized she was alive when A. and D.” — two operatives on the crew — “shouted, ‘We have a diamond! We have a diamond!’ Once we confirmed she was with us, our priority was to get her out safely,” Sgt. Main Y. recounts.
Operatives shielded Argamani with their our bodies as they moved her to security below heavy fireplace. “She was barefoot, so D. carried her on his back. She was terrified and couldn’t believe what was happening, even when we told her, ‘We’re here to take you home,’” A. informed Fox Information Digital.
Chief Inspector Arnon Zmora was killed in the course of the raid. (IDF)
Whereas Argamani’s rescue went easily, the scenario on the second house was way more difficult. Because the crew entered, they confronted “very effective” fireplace. Within the ensuing battle, the crew’s commander, Arnon Zmora, was critically injured. “Everything happened very quickly. It was a matter of seconds,” remembers Captain A.
As with the rescue of Argamani, the crew shielded the hostages with their physique armor and helmets as they evacuated them below fireplace. “The area was like a hornets’ nest, packed with militants inside and outside,” A. says. “We quickly moved [the hostages] towards the military vehicles, all the while taking effective fire from within the apartment and its surrounding.”
Yamam troops conducting a weekend rescue operation within the Gaza Strip whereas below heavy fireplace. (IDF)
Although the hostages had been rescued unhurt, the tip of the mission was tragic for the members of the Yamam crew. “We saved the hostages, but we lost one of our own,” one of many fighters informed Fox Digital Information, talking of Arnon Zmora, a 36-year-old father of two younger boys. “But this is both our privilege and our duty,” he mentioned. “We’ll fight until the last soldier, no matter the cost.”
“While these operations are heroic, they create the illusion that military pressure alone will free the hostages,” mentioned Tzur. “If there’s an operational window for a rescue, we should take it, but ultimately, we’ll need to make a tough and ugly deal. On October 7th, we were caught off guard, and now we’re forced to negotiate with the devil. Only a deal can bring the hostages back alive,” he mentioned.
The Nuseirat raid was the third time Yamam was concerned within the rescue of hostages kidnapped by Hamas, together with that of Non-public Ori Megidish, an Israel Protection Forces (IDF) lookout held captive within the Gaza Strip, and Fernando Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70, who had been held in Rafah.
Yamam counter-terror unit troops someplace in Israel. (Israel Police Spokesman’s Unit)
As one among Israel’s most elite forces — its operations are sometimes licensed on the highest ranges, together with the Prime Minister’s Workplace — the unit’s fighters usually are older than conscripts within the IDF, and so they have already skilled intense fight throughout their service within the IDF.
When Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, YAMAM operatives had been the primary to reply to the unfolding disaster, combating throughout 15 completely different areas that day, together with a 27-hour-long battle towards Hamas’s elite Nukba pressure on the police station in Sderot, an Israeli metropolis adjoining to the northern border with Gaza. 9 Yamam fighters had been killed in that combat.
Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 22, Shlomi Ziv, 41, and Andrey Kozlov, 27, had been rescued in two separate areas in a fancy particular daytime operation within the coronary heart of Nuseirat in central Gaza. (IDF)
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“They prevented the advance of Hamas’ elite forces northward, stopping them at Yad Mordechai and neutralizing many of them. The team, led by Arnon Zmora, halted their progress towards Ashdod, Ashkelon, and even as far as Tel Aviv,” mentioned Dvir and added, “they eliminated more than 200 terrorists.”
“We fight for two reasons,” mentioned G., a Yamam fighter who was within the Sderot battle. “One is the desire to destroy the enemy and to be the first to engage them. But much stronger than that,” he says, “is the desire to save lives.”
