One year ago, IDF soldier Arnon Zamora, the commando chief inspector of the Yamam counterterrorism unit, was mortally wounded in an operation that led to the rescue of Noa Argamani, Almog Meir, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv from captivity in Gaza.

After his death, Zamora was honored with the change of the name of the operation to Operation Arnon. On Sunday, to mark the one-year anniversary of the event, Israel Police released a statement.

“A year ago, Chief Superintendent Arnon Zamora, of blessed memory, led a breaching force into a building in Gaza where three hostages were being held. During the daring operation, Arnon was shot, and he succumbed to his wounds at the hospital. The rescue mission, known as ‘Operation Arnon,’ was named in his honor,” a police statement said.

“During his service in the Yamam (Israel’s counterterrorism unit), Arnon participated in dozens of counterterrorism operations, as well as in the events of October 7, during which he fought against Hamas terrorists in the South and succeeded in saving many lives. May his memory be blessed.”

The operation was extensive and carried out in conjunction with the Shin Bet. It required the Kfir Brigade to be active in the Gaza Strip for several days ahead of time, accompanied by the Paratroopers Brigade and a special force from the Duvdevan Unit.

Fallen Border Police Yamam fighter Arnon Zamora (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT, ISRAEL POLICE)
Fallen Border Police Yamam fighter Arnon Zamora (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT, ISRAEL POLICE)

Planning for the operation began months prior to being carried out

In the hours that followed the announcement of the rescue of Argamani, Meir, Kozlov, and Ziv, then-IDF Spokesperson Rr.-Adm. Daniel Hagari spoke of the details, noting that “The IDF and Yamam infiltrated two facilities while under fire by Hamas terrorists. A Yamam soldier was seriously injured in the operation and has just reached the hospital. We pray for his well-being.”

Hours later, it was announced that Zamora had succumbed to his wounds. He was 36 years old and is survived by his wife and two children.

Former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant honored Zamora’s sacrifice: “I salute Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora, commander in the elite Yamam Unit, who fell while leading a daring operation to rescue four hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. He lived and fell a hero,” Gallant said.

The operation to free Argamani went off without much of a hitch, but the operation to free the other three hostages in a separate building around two meters away led to a significant exchange of gunfire in which Zamora was wounded. Both buildings were around three to four stories high.

Planning for the operation began months prior to being carried out. It was delayed a number of times to improve the exact intelligence about the whereabouts, risks, and security parameters related to rescuing the hostages.

At one point, the operation was going to be only to rescue Argamani, but at a later stage it was decided to carry out a higher risk, simultaneous operation in both locations, lest Hamas guards in the second location kill the other three hostages, hearing that there was a nearby IDF attack, and not realizing that they were not part of the operation.

Part of the operation was also facilitated by the fact that the hostages were being held in civilian apartments above ground, as opposed to tunnels, where many other hostages were/are held.

On the other hand, the fact that some of those holding the hostages were not official members of Hamas but civilians who were paid to supervise them to better conceal their location created complications for the entire operation.

The operation was finally approved in principle by Israel’s War Cabinet, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and National Unity Party officials Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot (both former IDF chiefs) on the Thursday night prior to its taking place.

Around 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 8, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi and Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar ordered the operation to be executed from a joint operations command center, with a belief that in this specific case, an operation in broad daylight would achieve greater surprise, despite the additional risks of being seen more vividly in daylight than during a nighttime operation.

Further, after all four hostages were taken out of the locations where they were being held and brought into a land escape vehicle, the vehicle got stuck.

At this point, the hostages were more exposed, and the entire operation could have ended in disaster with at least dozens of terrorists descending on them and on IDF rescue forces, with some of the terrorists armed with rocket-propelled grenades that could kill both the ground rescue forces and destroy rescue helicopters.

In response, additional forces of IDF Division 98 and the air force let loose a massive barrage of fire.Any Hamas terrorists who tried to attack the hostages and the initial IDF rescue force were killed, potentially along with civilians.

Because this part of the operation was not only unplanned but also occurred under tremendous time pressure and in a mixed terrorist-civilian area, the IDF still does not know the exact breakdown of Palestinian terrorists to civilians killed.

However, both in this and some past instances, the military was suspicious that Hamas was inflating the numbers of civilians to cover up its embarrassing military losses and to try to tar Israel’s legitimacy globally.

The mix of reinforcements and rescue helicopters eventually succeeded in evacuating the IDF forces and the hostages.

Yuval Barnea contributed to this report.