Rafah, the last refuge for Palestinians fleeing Israel’s relentless bombardment in the Gaza Strip, is teetering on the verge of an irreparable collapse.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the Israeli army to get ready for a possible ground incursion in Rafah.
Displaced Palestinians; tired, injured, depressed, bereaved, are now left with nothing to do but perhaps, say their last prayers as chances of surviving Israel’s assault on Rafah unscathed is very low.
Israel started its attacks in the north, ordering people to flee to the south, which is now the focus for the Israeli military operations.
Israeli forces’ promise of safety “further south” was never materialised.
Now, more than 85 percent of Gaza’s population are sheltering in Rafah, a land of 64sq km (25sq miles) which is located on the border with Egypt, without having any other place to go.
Although Israel’s ground forces are yet to invade Rafah, Palestinians sheltering there have endured constant air strikes, with reports of 100 people killed per day on average.
Israel’s planned invasion of Rafah has triggered wide-scale condemnation among different international organisations and states about the disastrous potential consequences.
Hamas has even warned Israel that a ground offensive in Rafah would imperil negotiations on a truce and the exchange of captives and prisoners.
However, Netanyahu defiantly told a news agency that the Rafah operation would go ahead until Hamas is eliminated, adding Israel would provide “safe passage” to civilians wishing to leave.
Last week, Netanyahu said that there will be no victory without invading Rafah and dismantling the military capabilities of Hamas movements there.
When pressed about where they could go, Netanyahu said, “You know, the areas that we’ve cleared north of Rafah, plenty of areas there. But we are working out a detailed plan.”
Military Expert, Wassef Erekat told a news agency that an Israeli military invasion of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip would lead to genocide, considering there are 1.6 million Palestinians living in 60 square kilometres (23 square miles).
“It would be another tragedy befalling the Palestinian people, a catastrophe of epic proportions,” he said.
Erekat said that in the eyes of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a war without an invasion of Rafah would mean an admission of defeat.
“An invasion has dangerous and disastrous repercussions. Any number of scenarios can unfold: Allowing the displaced back into central and northern Gaza Strip, pushing them into [Egypt’s] Sinai, or merely bombing them further.”
Wassef Erekat
Israel Carries out Overnight Strikes on Rafah
The Israeli military confirmed early Monday, February 12, 2024, that it carried out a “series of strikes on terror targets” overnight in the Shaboura area of Rafah in southern Gaza.
“The strikes have concluded,” it wrote in a post on Telegram.
According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, at least 50 people were killed as Israeli planes and ships bombarded Rafah overnight.
The Palestinian news agency gave more details on the areas of Rafah targeted by the Israeli bombardment, stating that they include, the ar-Rahma mosque in Shaboura and al-Huda mosque in the Yabna camp where dozens of people were sheltering, as well as areas close to the border with Egypt.
Hamas condemned the Israeli air strikes on Rafah in southern Gaza, saying that they represent an “expansion of the scope of the massacres it is committing against our people.”
“The Nazi occupation army’s attack on the city of Rafah tonight… which have claimed the lives of more than a hundred martyrs so far, is considered a continuation of the genocidal war and the attempts at forced displacement it is waging against our Palestinian people,” the group said in a press release.
Also, the Israeli military announced that it rescued two captives from the city of Rafah in southern Gaza tonight.
The two men, aged 60 and 70, were taken from the Nir Yitzhak kibbutz during the October 7 attacks on Israel.
The men are in “good health”, the Israeli military said, and have been taken to hospital in Tel Aviv.
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