Israel's Attack on Rafah and the Blurry Prospects for Peace (I)
Israel negated international efforts to prevent an attack on Rafah on the grounds of sweeping away Hamas' last enclave.
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Photos released by the Israeli military on May 8, 2024 show Israeli troops operating in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.
Israel finally attacked Rafah since Tuesday, May 7 2024, after ignoring all warnings issued by the international community or its closest ally, the United States . Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu argued that the attack on Rafa was necessary to destroy the remaining Hamas threat.
Israeli troops used a combination of tank advances when crossing the border of Gaza and Egypt and closing the Rafah crossing. Video of troop movements shows Israeli infantry and tanks entering the Rafah area without significant resistance from Hamas. The previous night, heavy fighting broke out as Israeli ground troops advanced amid bombing cover by Israeli fighter jets.
“The battle was very, very big. They bombed and shot using fighter planes, rockets, tanks, machine guns. "I've never seen anything like that in my entire life," said a middle-aged man from Rafah in a video recording by Guardian News, Tuesday (7/5/2024). The man's statement referred to the bombing by Israeli jets the previous night which resulted in 20 Palestinians being killed.
Throughout the previous week, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), around 360,000 Palestinian citizens have been "expelled" from Rafah through Israeli evacuation orders distributed via leaflets. The leaflets issued by Israel contain instructions for refugee citizens in Rafah to evacuate as far as 6 kilometers to the west towards the "humanitarian pocket" of Al Mawasi located near the Mediterranean Sea coast.
Evacuation tents were set up along the coast in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza Strip by Palestinian residents who left Rafah on Sunday (12/5/2024).
However, the humanitarian aid mentioned in the Israeli brochure was already overwhelmed with tens of thousands of refugees and tents from various areas of Gaza. It is inevitable that the suffering of the Palestinian people will become increasingly unbearable, as they are displaced in their own land due to the threat of Israeli military attacks and the hardships in refugee camps.
The region's main hospital has been closed leaving little capacity to care for the injured, sick and destitute. According to the UNRWA website, as of 11 May 2024 only 6 of the 24 UNRWA health centers operating throughout Gaza were treating almost 17,000 patients.
Before being invaded by Israel, Rafah was the only territory of the five governorates in Gaza that was relatively unaffected by the Israel-Hamas war. A special BBC report on April 5 2024 showed that the condition of the center of Rafah city from a satellite photo dated October 15 2023 was relatively "intact" and clean of refugee tents.
The situation completely transformed on January 14, 2024. Thousands of tents were densely scattered around the center of Rafah city. A surge in population due to displacement is evident from the data, with Rafah, which was home to around 267,000 people in 2022, jumping to over 1.4 million people in February 2024.
Refugee Palestinians arrived at the refugee area west of Rafah, Friday (10/5/2024).
The satellite image displayed on the BBC page from Planet Labs PBC dated April 5, 2024 underscores the vulnerability of refugees in Rafah if there is a war or military attack in the area.
The attack on Rafah also means additional suffering for Palestinian residents because the Rafah border gate is the only safe route for humanitarian aid trucks to enter. Prior to the war, 500 container-sized trucks were needed daily to supply logistic needs throughout the Gaza region. During the war, however, the number shrank to an average of only 31 trucks per day.
"Clearly, the capacity to supply logistics to Gaza is now like a drop of water in the ocean," said Dr. Michael Ryan, Head of Emergency of the World Health Organization (WHO). This has certainly reduced all civilian life necessities, including food, drinks, and medication supplies for the people of Gaza.
Israel rejects ceasefire offer
Despite Israel's decision to continue its ground attack on Rafah, it was done based on the consideration that "only by completely defeating Hamas", the threat of terrorism such as the cross-border attack on October 7th, 2023 will not recur in the future. According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamas is already weakened, but has not been defeated.
In an interview with NBC media on May 10 2024, Benjamin Netanyahu also said that US President Joe Biden's threat to withhold the delivery of arms and ammunition aid because he did not agree with the attack on Rafah would not deter Israel. In fact, Netayahu emphasized that Israel would stand alone in fighting against Hamas even if it had to conflict with US views.
Also read: Behind US Arms Assistance to Israel and Ukraine
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even emphasized in his speech on Thursday (9/5/2024), "If we have to stand alone, we will stand alone. If necessary, we will fight with our nails. But we have more than just nails," said Netanyahu.
Palestinian children displaced from Rafah, carrying their family belongings on a horse-drawn carriage, arrived in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip on Sunday (12/5/2024).
It is no wonder that this decision has caused massive demonstrations in Israel, especially from the families of the hostages. This is because the decision has resulted in the cancellation of negotiations for the release/exchange of hostages with Hamas. They view that the decision to go to war by the leaders of Israel has shifted from prioritizing the lives of the hostages to political interests.
This is indicated by Israel's reluctance to agree to a ceasefire with Hamas on the day when Hamas had already agreed to it, which was Monday, May 6, 2024. Israel evaded the agreement by claiming that the ceasefire terms proposed by Hamas were far from their demands.
Instead of discussing Hamas' ceasefire proposal, Israel actually bombed Rafah that night and mobilized ground troops the following day, Tuesday.
As a reminder, in October 2023, during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stated that Hamas must be forced to the negotiating table, even though it may be very difficult to achieve. Negotiation became the goal of Israel's bombardment of Gaza.
Palestinian refugees, who left Rafah in southern Gaza Strip carrying their belongings after evacuation orders from the Israeli army, arrived in Khan Yunis on Monday (6/5/2024).
" The greater the military pressure, the greater the firepower, and the more frequent our attacks on Hamas, the greater the chance for us to bring Hamas to a point where they will agree to a solution that allows our loved ones to return," said Gallant as reported by Al Jazeera website on October 28, 2023.
Now, under the pretext that Hamas did not comply with Israel's ceasefire demands, Hamas' willingness to move forward with negotiations sponsored by Egypt and Qatar has been rejected through Israeli military action. Previously, Hamas accepted the peace proposal from Egypt and Qatar for a ceasefire and hostage agreement in Gaza, which includes a ceasefire, full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, prisoner exchange, reconstruction of the region, and the lifting of Israel's blockade on the area.
Also read: Can Israel's strategy defeat Hamas? (1)
The movement emphasized in a statement that Israel's rejection of the mediators' proposal brought the situation in Gaza back to square one. "Netanyahu and his government used these negotiations as cover to attack Rafah, occupy the border, continue the war of extermination against our people, and bear full responsibility for obstructing the deal," a Hamas spokesperson said on social media.
The target is to destroy Hamas as a political foothold
The page of The Palestine Chronicle in the May 10, 2024 edition reported Hamas' reaction to Israel's attack on Rafah. It said Hamas leaders would hold consultations with the leaders of all Palestinian resistance groups to reconsider their negotiation strategy.
An excerpt from Hamas' statement delivered via the Resistance News Network on their Telegram channel shows that the fire of Hamas resistance is still burning amidst great pressure from the Israeli military. It was stated in the statement, "As we salute the heroes of the Al-Qassam Brigades, Saraya Al-Quds, and all the Palestinian resistance factions who wrote the most beautiful epics of heroism in the face of the enemy army and its attack on the entire axis of the steadfast Gaza Strip. Their heroic operation which resulted in a number of enemy soldiers being killed and injured in Rafah today, we emphasize that the attack on Rafah was not an easy thing and Gaza will always be a grave for the occupying invaders."
Smoke rises in the Rafah area after an Israeli attack was launched on May 6, 2024.
It is difficult to deny that, until the 9th day of the Rafah attack, Israel had suffered losses of dozens of soldiers. The majority of the victims were caused by sudden close-range attacks from Palestinian fighters who were hiding behind building ruins or in underground hiding holes.
Also read: Can Israel's strategy defeat Hamas? (2)
At that time, the Israel-Hamas war had only been going on for about 10 days and Gaza was being bombarded by massive Israeli bombs. "This war was not directed by military plans, no norms were respected. All international laws of war were violated," said Maliki. (To be continued)(KOMPAS RESEARCH)
Read tomorrow: ”Israel's Attack on Rafah and the Blurry Prospects for Peace (II)”
