War in the Middle East, the US against Israel: “Attacking Rafah would be disastrous”. 007: “The destruction of Hamas is not near.” Talks in Cairo

The United States warns Israel: a ground operation in Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are crammed, would be “a disaster”. Yet another clash between Joe Biden's administration and Benyamin Netanyahu's government is taking place over the military operation that the Jewish state – negotiations with Hamas for the release of over 130 hostages still in Gaza have currently failed – is preparing to launch towards the city in the south of the Strip, close to Egypt. “Any major operation in Rafah now,” with over a million Palestinians taking refuge there, “would be a disaster and we would not support it. Without proper planning, we would not support it,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby and State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel bluntly stated the day after Blinken's umpteenth mission to the region that was resolved into a frustrating stalemate. And Patel added that Washington “has yet to see any evidence of serious planning for such an operation.”

While American intelligence – despite Netanyahu claiming that total victory and the destruction of Hamas is one step away – reported to Congress that Israel has indeed weakened the capabilities of the Islamic faction but is nowhere near eliminating it. American officials, according to reports from the New York Times, have indeed raised doubts about whether the destruction of Hamas is “a realistic objective”. For days, however, Israel has intensified its raids on Rafah in view of the ground operation announced by Netanyahu after rejecting the “inadmissible” requests made by Hamas for the release of the kidnapped people. On Wednesday evening, according to Wafa, “at least 14 people and dozens more were injured” in one of these raids. Rafah is just south of Khan Yunis, one of the main Hamas strongholds in the Strip, where close-quarters fighting has been taking place for days between soldiers and militiamen of the Islamic faction.

A short distance from the Egyptian border, the city with its crossing is the fundamental entry point for humanitarian aid intended for the population of Gaza, who have moved en masse from the north and center towards the last city of the Strip. But Rafah is also important from a military point of view: the Israeli spokesperson underlined that from there several volleys of rockets were launched towards central Israel, including Tel Aviv; and the so-called 'Philadelphia Corridor' winds through the city, a strip of land parallel to Egypt under which tunnels run that allow crossing the border, often used for weapons smuggling. Egypt, invoking the 1979 Peace Treaty between the two countries, warned Israel not to go in that direction and strengthened the separation structures, also with the aim of preventing displaced Palestinians – pressured by the war – from crossing on the other side, that is, in Sinai. An offensive in Rafah – in the opinion of some analysts – could represent a dramatic breakdown in the diplomatic balance between the two countries. A prospect that worries Washington quite a bit. If the negotiations are currently at a standstill, a glimmer of hope remains alive in Cairo.

A Hamas delegation led by senior figure Halil al-Khaya arrived in the Egyptian capital to “complete ceasefire talks”. The delegation came from Qatar, one of the mediators – together with the USA and Egypt – of the framework agreement drawn up in Paris which did not materialize due to Israel's veto of Hamas' requests. How much the talks resumed in Cairo can overcome the ongoing stalemate – especially on the Islamic faction's request for a permanent ceasefire and the total withdrawal of the IDF from the Strip – remains an unknown. Despite this, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken – in a meeting with the families of the hostages, who today returned to demonstrate in the center of Tel Aviv demanding the release of their relatives and attacking Netanyahu's policies – showed a cautious tone optimism. To resolve the hostage dossier, Israel – according to senior officials in Jerusalem quoted by NBC News – would be willing to let Yahya Sinwar go into exile. Meanwhile, tension continues to grow in the north too: dozens of rockets arrived from Hezbollah's Lebanon, Israel responded by killing a local commander of the faction allied with Iran.

To know more