Happy Lord’s Day! What a great time to continue celebrating the rescue of four Israeli hostages yesterday! After launching an extraordinary rescue mission at 10:00am on Saturday morning, this announcement was made at 11:10am:

The diamonds are in our hands!

Indeed, hostages were in the hands of special ops commandos and the task of getting them out of the hell hole in which they lived for 245 days was underway. Challenges were met, particularly by the group led by Captain Arnon Zamora who lost his life commanding the raid to rescue the three male hostages.

To complicate the situation, an escape vehicle was also hit by enemy fire and bogged down, requiring a pre-prepared recovery mission by fighters from other IDF units. Yet, the second rescue vehicle also had technical difficulties, requiring a third vehicle to transport the three male hostages and the special ops team out of harms’ way. Ultimately, IDF helicopters landed under cover from air force fighter jets and other helicopter fire and successfully extracted all hostages and special ops forces.

By noon, the last special forces were out and soon after, the IDF, Shin Bet and Israeli police officially announced the rescue of the hostages. Celebration erupted across Israel and around the world. Praise to the God of Israel is definitely in order. Let’s do that today!

126 When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion,
We were like those who dream.
² Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
And our tongue with singing.
Then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
³ The Lord has done great things for us,
And we are glad.
~Psalm 126:1-3