The Israeli army ended up launching an assault on Rafah on Monday May 6. As of Tuesday morning, she claimed to have seized a symbolic and crucial place for 2 million Gazans: the Palestinian part of the only border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, which opens in full heart of this city, behind an immense aluminum arch, at the end of the long Saladin road. Photographs were released of Israeli flags raised at this terminal, the taking of which completed the siege of the Gaza Strip.
This sudden breakthrough took place just a few hours after Hamas announced, to the surprise of all actors, that it had accepted an Israeli ceasefire proposal on Monday, not without having made important modifications, that Israel considers them unacceptable. The army presents its operation in Rafah as limited, and not as the beginning of a conquest of the city, the southern cul-de-sac of the Gaza Strip and the only city not to have been invested until then by the troops of the Jewish state, where more than a million people who fled the bombings took refuge.
Palestinian sources earlier reported troop movements from the Netzarim corridor, the army’s forward position in the center of the enclave. Tanks were also reported by a medical Source at World near the European hospital in Khan Younès (south) early Monday. International hospital staff have since been evacuated. The army also bombed around a hundred targets in the Rafah region, according to army radio, notably in the western district of Tel Al-Sultan.
“Bring back our kidnapped”
The Israeli war cabinet unanimously decided on Monday evening to continue operations in Rafah, after three months of almost daily threats. It remains to be seen whether this progress signals Israel’s abandonment of the last round of ongoing talks with Hamas, which has warned, as have the Qatari and Egyptian mediators, that an invasion of Rafah would derail these efforts. The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday evening that his government for its part intended to continue negotiations: “Israel will send a delegation to Egypt, in an effort to maximize the possibility of reaching an agreement on terms acceptable to Israel. »
Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers Israel steps up preparations for Rafah offensive
Add to your selections
Mr. Netanyahu has been accused since Saturday of trying to derail these talks, under pressure from his far-right allies, supporters of an endless continuation of the war and ethnic cleansing of Gaza. However, centrist minister Benny Gantz displayed a united front with the head of government on Monday evening. The general, who is among the most active defenders of a ceasefire agreement within the war cabinet, in order to free the Hamas hostages, affirmed that “The military operation in Rafah is an inseparable part of our constant efforts and determination to bring back our kidnapped and change the security reality in the South.”
You have 56.55% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
