Who Is Arnon Zmora, Israeli Soldier Who Died During Hostage Rescue And Had The Entire Op Named After Him?

Israeli police on Saturday, shortly after rescuing hostages Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41, all of whom were abducted from the Nova music festival on October 7, said that officer Arnon Zmora died in the rescue operation in Gaza Strip.

“The Israel Police and the Border Police announce with great sorrow and grief the death of the late officer Arnon Zmora… who was mortally wounded in the operation to return the hostages this morning in Gaza,” the force said in a statement.

Military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the hostages were kept in two buildings in Nuseirat refugee camp that were three- to four-storey high, making it “impossible to reach without going through civilians”.

“There were families and guards” in the buildings, he told journalists in an online briefing.

The 36-year-old counter terrorism specialist from Israel’s Sde David helped officers navigate the Nuseirat refugee camp and died after succumbing to Hamas bullet fire while rescuing three out of the four refugees during the operation.

A significant gunfight broke out during the extraction of the hostages, with Zmora’s vehicle being targeted. Reinforcement rapidly arrived to evacuate the injured officer and the hostages, transporting them to a temporary helipad in Gaza.

Once Israeli officials announced his death, the hostage rescue operation that saw the freeing of the hostages was renamed from “Seeds of Summer” to “Operation Arnon” in his memory, the Times of Israel said in a report.

Zmora also defended areas in southern Israel during the October 7 attack when he led an operation against Hamas near Yad Mordechai, eliminating dozens of terrorists and preventing them from entering the kibbutzim.

He was also part of combat operations against terrorists at both the Nahal Oz base and Kibbutz Be’eri.

Arnon, left behind a wife, two children, parents, a brother and two sisters.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday called him one of Israel’s best sons and acknowledged that a tragic cost was incurred during the rescue. “One of the best of our sons has fallen… I know what pain his family is going through. He and his colleagues proved that the State of Israel has the strength and power and the will to fight those who seek to kill us, and that the IDF can get anywhere,” Netanyahu, whose own elder brother Yoni Netanyahu died while leading an elite IDF force in the Entebbe hostage rescue in 1976, said.

He also approved the renaming of the rescue operation.