‘Failure of the negotiations’: Israel’s hostage rescue leads to one of the bloodiest days in the war
In Israel, the news of four hostages rescued from Gaza was met with cheering crowds and tearful scenes of reuniting families but came at the expense of Palestinians.
In Israel, the news of four hostages rescued from Gaza was met with cheering crowds and tearful scenes of reuniting families. Officials hailed the operation as miraculous and heroic, and offered a rare win for Israel's embattled Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
But it came at the expense of hundreds of Palestinians, who suffered one of the bloodiest days in Gaza. Video filmed by an NBC News crew on the ground showed streets scattered with charred bodies, survivors gathering body parts into sacks, rescuers carrying mangled and blood-soaked children into chaotic hospitals overwhelmed with the injured.
By Sunday, joy in Israel was fading and giving way to the realities of a war that has dragged on for nine months and whose fissures and deep divisions remained largely unchanged by the rescue.
Freed hostage Almog Meir Jan, 21, arrives by helicopter Saturday at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, Israel.Tomer Appelbaum / AP“What we saw yesterday is actually failure of the negotiations,” Yossi Mekelberg, an associate fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, said in a phone interview with NBC News.
“Had there been a cease-fire, these hostages would already have been at home, and the civilians that were killed yesterday would be alive," Mekelberg said.
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