Israel’s military said it had advanced into the center of Rafah and deeper into southern Gaza Strip, despite opposition from the international community and pressure from allies to scale back its recent offensive.
Israeli commandos, backed by tanks and artillery, were operating in the center of Rafah, the Israeli military said in a statement, without specifying the exact location. On Wednesday, the Israeli military said it had established operational control over an eight-mile stretch of the Egyptian border known as the Philadelphia Corridor outside Rafah.
Commercial satellite images taken by Planet Labs on Thursday showed Israeli forces establishing positions in parts of central Rafah, and military vehicles and tanks were spotted as far as the outskirts of the Tel al-Sultan area, west of Rafah.
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Despite nearly eight months of fighting, Israel has yet to achieve its goal of bringing home some 125 hostages held in Gaza and defeating Hamas. Israeli officials have said shutting down Hamas’ cross-border smuggling networks and rooting out militants from Rafah would be key steps toward that goal.
Another focus of recent Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip has been the northern city of Jabaliya, where the military says it has carried out more than 200 airstrikes during weeks of intense fighting with Hamas militants. Israeli troops withdrew last Friday, leaving widespread damage in the aftermath, according to Israeli troops and Palestinian residents. The military said it was still carrying out some combat operations in central Gaza.
Military analysts have expressed skepticism that the Rafah attack will give Hamas the decisive blow Israel craves. But this has deepened the misery of ordinary Palestinians, who still suffer widespread hunger in isolated areas. Since the offensive began, the amount of international aid reaching southern Gaza has decreased, while the arrival of commercial goods has increased slightly.
Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi said Wednesday that Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip will continue until the end of the year. Mr. Hanegbi, a senior aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a radio interview that the fight would continue for several more months to “consolidate the gains” against Hamas.
According to the United Nations, more than 1 million Palestinians, half the population of Rafah, have fled Israel’s offensive in the past few weeks, many becoming refugees for the second or third time in the conflict. When Israel ordered a mass evacuation of northern Gaza in late October, many people sought refuge there, pushing the population of Gaza to 1.4 million.
Israel continued its offensive in Rafah despite concerns from close allies such as the United States that a large-scale military strike would put civilians at grave risk.
Some of those fears were realized Sunday when at least 45 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike and subsequent fire, according to Gaza health officials. The Israeli military said the shelling clearly targeted two Hamas commanders but unintentionally started a fire near where civilians were sheltering.
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari later said there were no tents in the immediate vicinity of the structure targeted by Israeli aircraft. However, a visual analysis by The New York Times showed that the ammunition hit inside the camp where the displaced people were sheltering.
Shlomo Brom, a retired Israeli brigadier general, said Friday that the offensive in Rafah will continue for weeks as Israeli forces battled remaining militants through parts of the city to destroy tunnels and clear the area in a controlled demolition manner. He said it would be. .
To prevent Hamas from rearming, Israeli forces will likely remain in border areas near Egypt for the foreseeable future, said General Brohm, who heads the military’s strategic planning department. He said Israeli officials have not yet moved toward the only viable option: handing over security responsibilities to a new administration.
Senior Israeli officials have expressed frustration with Netanyahu’s failure to articulate a clear strategy to end the war. In recent months, Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to areas such as Jabaliya, which they conquered early in the war, to crush a renewed Hamas insurgency.
Unless Israel has a diplomatic endgame for the Gaza Strip, its military will remain mired in constant battles with Palestinian militants there, General Brohm said.
“All kinds of operations will be launched, and they will all have a military logic, but they will not be part of a clear strategy,” General Brohm said, adding that the military threat under the Israeli military regime in Gaza is being gradually reduced. “It could take years.”
Last week, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to curb the ongoing military offensive in Rafah, warning of the risk of serious harm to civilians. But some judges wrote that Israel could still conduct some military operations there. The Israeli military continued operations despite the pressure and described the Rafah operation as limited and precise.
Satellite images from May 22 show that much of eastern Rafah has been devastated since attacks began in early May, especially areas around the border with Egypt. Israel captured the Rafah crossing area in a night operation on May 7, marking the start of the offensive. in that area.
Source: Satellite imagery from Planet Labs
The Rafah border has served as an important conduit for delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza amid widespread poverty and hunger. It also served as a key gateway for sick and injured Gaza residents fleeing fighting to receive emergency medical care.
Israeli officials said the portal was part of a Hamas smuggling operation that has been subject to a heavy Israeli-Egyptian blockade since the Palestinian militant group took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007.
The crossing has been closed since Israeli military occupation, and Israeli, Egyptian and Palestinian officials have failed to reach an agreement to resume operations there.
After pressure from the United States, Egypt this week began redirecting some aid trucks to another Israeli-controlled crossing, Kerem Shalom, in a bid to ease a sharp decline in aid flows into Gaza.
Christian Tribertcontributed to the report.
