Former Navy Seal Rob O’Neill, credited with killing Osama Bin Laden calls the mission very successful.
Former Navy Seal Rob O’Neill, credited with killing Osama Bin Laden, is speaking out about Israel's hostage rescue.
“Huge operation, very gutsy call and very successful,” O’Neill says.
Four Israeli hostages were rescued in an operation that killed at least 274 Palestinians and left around 700 Palestinians wounded, according to published reports.
O’Neill spoke with Inside Edition about the difficulty of the operation.
“You’re getting shot at from rooftops, from basements, anywhere they can shoot at them. There’s bullets coming from everywhere,” O’Neill says. “Everyone with a gun is going to be shooting at them.”
An Israeli undercover counter-terrorist unit posed at Palestinian refugees to get to the two apartment buildings where the hostages were being held. As they fought their way in, soldiers battled Hamas fighters nearby. There were also air strikes in the neighborhood to deflect attention from the rescue operation.
At one point during the operation, a car carrying the rescued hostages came under fire and they had to switch vehicles. Surveillance video shows the hostages being taken to a helicopter and flown to safety. The code signal for the rescue was, “We have the diamonds.”
Among the rescued hostages, Noa Argamani, 26, was being held in an apartment that appeared to be a children’s room with two teddy bears on the bed. Three other hostages were housed together in another building 200 yards away.
One of the hostages learned that his father had died hours before the rescue.
It is unclear how the operation will impact efforts to negotiate a ceasefire.
