Israel announced this Friday a major move in the Gaza war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to take his troops by land to Rafah, at the southern end of Gaza, to finish completely occupying the Strip. At the same time, the operation contemplates the evacuation of more than half of the population of the enclave (about 2.3 million people in total), who are amassed, the vast majority as internally displaced people from the north, in a territory that borders with the Egyptian border, which acts as a buffer.
“It is impossible to achieve the objective of the war without eliminating Hamas, and leaving four Hamas battalions in Rafah,” argued a statement from the prime minister's office made public on Friday afternoon, coinciding with the beginning of the weekly holiday. of the sabbath. “On the contrary, it is evident that the intense activity in Rafah requires that civilians be evacuated from combat zones,” the text adds. Netanyahu has asked that the Security Forces present to the Cabinet a “combined plan” that will allow us to eliminate the Islamists and, at the same time, proceed to remove civilians from that same area.
For days now, all eyes have been focused on Rafah, which could become a new battlefield in the Gaza Strip. Oblivious to the calls of the international community, both at the diplomatic and humanitarian levels, Israeli troops maintain attacks on this population in the south of the enclave from the air and with artillery. At least eight people, several from the same family, died when their house was bombed this Friday, according to health authorities. Meanwhile, the military continues to be deployed in neighboring Khan Yunis, a dozen kilometers further north and the main theater of war in recent weeks.
Netanyahu's announcement comes shortly after US President Joe Biden stated this Thursday that Israel's military reaction to the October 7 attacks is being “overblown.” Israel's main international ally fears that the current humanitarian crisis and the number of war victims will skyrocket if troops reach Rafah by land. That same fear has been expressed by the United Nations and different NGOs that work on the ground with extensive experience in emergency situations and wars.
The United States is also trying to guide Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the path to a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has ended his fifth regional tour during the current contest without apparently taking anything positive in that aspect from the Israeli Executive. Meanwhile, Egypt and Qatar are trying to ensure that the negotiations are not lost by maintaining direct contacts with Hamas in Cairo. Some Israeli analysts consider, in any case, that Netanyahu is trying to swim and put away his clothes. On the one hand, he flatly rejected Hamas's proposal for a truce and exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners and keeps his government alive thanks to ministers who act as his internal opposition, openly confronting the Biden Administration. On the other hand, he tries to keep the Cabinet moderates on his side.
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Behind this military decision on whether to make Rafah another Khan Yunis, lies the problem of the release of the 136 hostages who remain in Gaza and whose return home is one of the pillars on which the ceasefire negotiations revolve. .
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