Police mark two years since Operation Arnon with helmet-cam footage from the Nuseirat raid that rescued Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv after 246 days in Hamas captivityTwo years after Operation Arnon, the police's Yamam counterterrorism unit released new footage Sunday from the dramatic hostage rescue in Gaza in which Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora was killed while helping bring four Israeli hostages home alive. The operation took place on June 8, 2024, in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. Yamam fighters, working with the Shin Bet internal security service and the IDF, rescued Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv after 246 days in Hamas captivity. All four had been abducted from the Nova music festival near Re’im during the October 7 massacre.'He fell meters from hostages’: new footage shows heroic Gaza rescue where Arnon Zamora fell (Photo: Israel Police)The newly released helmet-camera footage shows the raid on the separate compounds where the hostages were held, the close-quarters fighting with Hamas Nukhba terrorists and the moments when the forces reached the captives. In one recording, Zamora is seen briefly; seconds later, a voice is heard over the radio saying, “24,” Zamora’s call sign, “has been hit.” Other clips capture the emotional report from the troops: “Hostages in our hands.” The mission was the Yamam’s second successful live-hostage rescue during the war, following Operation Golden Hand, in which Fernando Marman and Luis Har were rescued alive from Rafah.Superintendent G., a Yamam platoon commander and Zamora’s direct commander, said the unit had been involved in the war from its first hours on October 7. “On the morning of October 7, a joint Shin Bet and Yamam force under my command was on alert for an incident in southern Israel,” he said. “We were called up the moment the mass infiltration began. Zamora, together with all the fighters, fought in many arenas, at Yad Mordechai, at the Nahal Oz outpost and in Be’eri. On that terrible day, the force fought heroically, managed to save quite a few civilians and, of course, eliminate all the terrorists who had infiltrated Israeli territory. That is how we began the war.” He said the unit and the Shin Bet began working intensively on the hostage issue in the week after the attack, after gathering large amounts of intelligence, and began preparing for a double rescue operation in Nuseirat.The four hostages were held in two separate locations about 200 meters apart. Argamani was held in one building, while Meir Jan, Kozlov and Ziv were held in an apartment in another. G.’s force, which included Zamora, was responsible for rescuing Meir Jan, Kozlov and Ziv. “We were about 200 meters apart between the targets, but each target operated independently,” he said. “The three men were held in an apartment. We knew that the moment we touched the building, significant fighting would begin. From the moment the force began the takeover stage, fire was immediately opened from inside the apartment. The fighters, with supreme courage, moved toward the hostages and reached them within a few seconds, up to half a minute. From there, we began our withdrawal battle.”G. described the mission as historic, saying the fighters entered it knowing both that they would succeed and that they could pay a price. “Arnon fell during the breach, during the rescue of hostages, when the distance between where he fell and the hostages was maybe a meter, a meter and a half,” he said. “The force did not stop for a moment and reached the hostages. In doing so, the unit fulfilled its purpose.” He said Shin Bet fighters had fought alongside the Yamam for years in counterterrorism operations and viewed the mission in the same way. “Arnon was a very special person and commander, a man of values who gave everything, not only professionally but personally as well,” G. said. “It is important to say that he was also an amazing partner and father. We are still pained by the event. Losing a friend and commander in an operation like this, as meaningful as it was, is very difficult.”1 View gallery Chief Inspector Arnon ZamoraCommander A., the Yamam operations officer who led the force that broke into the home where Argamani was held, said hostage rescue is the mission for which the unit trains, even if most fighters never know whether they will face such a moment. “October 7 caught the unit with many forces deployed in different areas, and they physically blocked the raid,” he said. “The moment the unit received the mission of rescuing the hostages, from that moment on, the entire unit mobilized.” He said the earlier rescue of Marman and Har in Rafah had required more than two months of complex preparation with the Shin Bet, and that in that nighttime commando raid the unit eliminated many terrorists and brought the two hostages out safely.The Nuseirat mission, A. said, was even more complex because it took place in daylight and required perfect timing between two separate locations. “During the entry into the building, there was a look from the doorway, and from that moment the force was given the order to breach,” he said of the rescue of Argamani. “The force entered, eliminated the terrorists inside and rescued Noa within a short time. About three minutes passed from the moment of the breach until the return to the vehicle, and the force left unharmed and without friction with the surroundings, assisted by air cover provided by the air force.” He said the experience of bringing hostages back alive carried a different weight from other counterterrorism missions: “No matter how many targeted operations or arrest operations you carry out, important as they may be, the meaning of bringing life back is, in my eyes, much greater and much more complex.”After Zamora was killed, A. said, the unit returned to operations with the understanding that it had no choice but to continue the path of those who had fallen. “There is no other way than to continue the path of the fallen and continue fighting for the existence of the State of Israel,” he said. The rescue mission was approved the night before it took place in a highly classified discussion. It was carried out in an area of Gaza where the IDF had not previously maneuvered against Hamas battalions and included deception and diversion measures, because Hamas had been preparing for a broad Israeli operation in the area in the preceding weeks.