Observers who spoke to Sky News Arabia believe that expanding Israeli operations to reach the southern Gaza Strip will have serious repercussions at the regional level, especially since the population will have no place to flee except to neighboring countries via Rafah, which will arouse the ire of Egypt and the Arab countries that refuse to displace them. population to Sinai.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Thursday that Israel’s policy of forced displacement “is a war crime in itself,” and “we have a strong and sure will to reject any form of displacement of Palestinians.”
Shukri adds, “The actions being committed in Gaza violate international humanitarian law, and the Palestinian Authority and the Arab and Islamic countries have stressed the necessity of having mechanisms to investigate these violations, and the Palestinian Authority has called on the International Criminal Court to do so.”
A strategic goal for Israel
Palestinian political analyst, Abdul Mahdi Mutawa, believes that expanding the Israeli ground operation to include the southern Gaza Strip is a goal that Tel Aviv has planned since the beginning of the aggression on Gaza on the seventh of last October. He said in his interview with “Sky News Arabia” website:
- Israel is targeting the south and center to complete its operations against Hamas. It is expected to target Khan Yunis in the south, because it is the widest area in the Gaza Strip by about 12 km, and the eastern part of it is not densely populated. Therefore, Israel plans to separate Khan Yunis from Rafah and Central, in order to put pressure on Displaced populations from north to south and residents of the south as well.
- The bombing of the south so far is selective, and Israel is targeting specific buildings, and not a belt of fire as happened in the north, because the Israeli army wants to reduce the number of casualties, due to the great pressure it faces from the international community and the United States.
What are the regional implications?
The Saudi writer and political analyst, Saad Abdullah Al-Hamid, told Sky News Arabia that Israel, since the beginning of the aggression on the Gaza Strip, has said that it has a main goal of eliminating the Hamas movement, and to that end it has cut off water, electricity, and gas from all facilities inside the Strip. In his statements, he adds:
- What happened is a continuous targeting of civilians and the killing of thousands of children, women and patients. Recently, Israel expanded its operations to storm hospitals, claiming the presence of Hamas corridors or weapons stores, without achieving any goals so far, while Tel Aviv seems very distracted and does not have a plan to move inside Gaza.
- Israel also uses the same pretext to displace the population of the Gaza Strip, claiming to have access to Hamas members, and today it is talking about displacement from the south of the Gaza Strip, which may raise international unrest and push regional powers into conflict with Israel directly.
* What Israel is doing today in Gaza is tantamount to genocide and forced displacement of the population of the Strip, which would strengthen the state of regional polarization, because this plan is categorically rejected by Egypt, Jordan, and all Arab countries.
- Israel is promoting the process of forced displacement, whether to Egypt, Jordan, Europe or America, in light of a categorical international rejection of this proposal, which may result in a regional clash and isolation for Tel Aviv.
- As for the potential repercussions, expanding the ground operation will lead to more killing and innocent victims, and will also raise widespread regional and international tensions.
- Today, immediate international pressure is required on Israel to stop its practices of killing and displacing Palestinians, and to adhere to international covenants regarding the two-state solution.
Regional tension
Hassan Salama, an Egyptian professor of political science, says that “Israel is exercising the maximum form of pressure on the Palestinians to completely move out of the Gaza Strip,” and his statements were as follows:
- Israel targets the Gaza Strip’s infrastructure, hospitals, and shelter centers, with the aim of pressuring Gaza’s residents to flee to other countries.
- The Israeli move would raise the level of regional tension, and the Egyptian position is strict in this regard. From the first day of the crisis, Egypt announced its categorical rejection of the scenario of displacement to Sinai and mobilized international forces, all of which supported the Egyptian rejection.
- Egypt has been working since day one to support the Palestinian cause in light of historical constants, as well as to protect its national security and not allow the issue to be liquidated by displacing the residents of Gaza outside the Strip.
- Israeli pressure continues on the residents of the Gaza Strip, in order to flee the Palestinian territories and control the Strip for political purposes.
Palestinian refusal
For his part, the Palestinian Ambassador to Cairo, Diab Al-Louh, renewed his country’s rejection of displacing the residents of the Gaza Strip to Sinai or any place outside the Palestinian borders.
During a joint press conference with the governor of North Sinai, Al-Louh stressed the rejection of all displacement plans and forcing Palestinians to flee to Egypt.
The Palestinian ambassador praised Egypt’s keenness to open the Rafah crossing and continue providing aid to the Gaza Strip. He also thanked the great Egyptian army for all the martyrs and support it provided to Palestine.
#Israel #singles #Khan #Yunis #selective #bombing #target #Gaza