Posted by Gaza: Israel on Wednesday announced to go ahead with its plan to launch military operation in southern Gaza city of Rafah amid fears for the 1.5 million Palestinians sheltering there.
“Israel is moving ahead with our operation to target Hamas in Rafah,” government spokesman David Mencer told a press briefing.
“The four battalions which remain in Rafah cannot be shielded from Israel. They will be attacked.” Mencer added that “two reserve brigades” had been mobilised “for defensive and tactical missions in Gaza” against the Palestinian Islamist movement.
Since Israel’s ground invasion began in Gaza on October 27, “at least 18 or 19 of Hamas’s 24 battalions” have been destroyed, he said.
Why Israel wants to go ahead with Rafah operation?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said repeatedly that Israel will press ahead with the assault on Rafah, the last major population centre in Gaza that Israeli troops are yet to enter.
Netanyahu has said that the destruction of the remaining four Hamas battalions in Rafah is vital to his government’s war aim of destroying the Islamist group in Gaza. A majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have taken refuge in Rafah, many sheltering in makeshift encampments.
US warns Israel against Rafah invasion
Countries including Israel’s top ally the United States have warned Israel against sending troops into Rafah, fearing huge civilian casualties.
“A full-scale military invasion of Rafah would have an enormously harmful effect” on civilians trapped there and “would ultimately hurt Israel’s security”, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said earlier this month.
New compound of tents emerges as Israel signals Rafah operation
A new tent compound is emerging near Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, coinciding with signals from the Israeli military about a impending offensive on Rafah city.
Khan Younis has been the target of successive Israeli military actions in recent weeks. In preparation for a potential offensive on Rafah, Israel has hinted at plans to evacuate civilians from the area. Rafah has become a refuge for hundreds of thousands amidst the ongoing seven-month-long conflict.
A Palestinian health official clarified that the tent camp is to accommodate displaced persons currently seeking shelter in a hospital. Its establishment is unrelated to any imminent military operation.