Gaza Hostage Crisis Led To "Unprecedented" Delta Force and SEAL Team 6 Deployment

JSOC is preparing for a long campaign supporting the Israeli incursion into Gaza

Image courtesy of the White House.

When Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer said Oct. 12 on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that the Biden administration was “not contemplating” putting troops on the ground in Gaza to rescue the dozen or so American hostages captured during Hamas’ Oct. 7 raid into southern Israel, Joint Special Operations Command was already planning a rescue operation.

JSOC (pronounced “jay-sock”), which controls special mission units like the Army’s 1^st Special Forces Operational Detachment – Delta (commonly known as Delta Force) and the Navy’s SEAL Team 6, and which conducts the United States’ most sensitive national-level special operations missions, had been informed by the Defense Department that the administration wanted to see “something” in terms of a plan of action to rescue the American citizens, a special operations official told The High Side.

In response, according to current and former U.S. government officials, JSOC conducted one of the biggest deployments in its history. But since those forces arrived in the Eastern Mediterranean, the command has seen its chances of launching a hostage rescue mission wax and wane, based on both the quality of the intelligence available and the shifting priorities of the Israeli and U.S. governments. In the meantime, no U.S. military personnel are known to have entered Gaza.