Intensification of fighting in Khan Yunis… and international warnings of the dangers of this approach
Israeli movements have strengthened the estimates that indicate the imminent implementation of a ground invasion of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, despite international and Egyptian warnings about the dangers and consequences of this trend. This was accompanied by Hebrew reports that spoke of the army considering evacuating the city’s residents to the northern Gaza Strip before attacking it. .
Israeli army officials said that “so far they have made significant progress in Khan Yunis, and have taken control of a large part of Hamas’ strategic tunnel system there, and are making progress in pursuing Sinwar. Israeli intelligence believes that Sinwar and other Hamas leaders, including… That is the commander of the Qassam, Muhammad Deif, and his deputy, Marwan Issa, who have been holed up in Khan Yunis since the early stages of the war.”
The American website Axios said, “The Israeli army recently entered most of the central sites in Hamas’ strategic tunnel system under the city, and this progress has led the Israeli army to believe that it is approaching Sinwar.” According to Israeli media, Israel needs about a week of additional work in Khan Yunis before moving to the Rafah border.
Rafah is the last stronghold of Hamas that the Israeli forces did not enter, and if the Israeli army continues its attack towards the Rafah border, in fact, this means that Israel ignored the Egyptian warnings against attacking Rafah, which also included a rejection of Tel Aviv’s efforts to control the Philadelphia border axis. And the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to Egypt, which Egypt considers a red line. More than 1,200,000 displaced people reside in Rafah, making it overcrowded.
Israeli sources said that Israel is considering evacuating residents from the Rafah area, before starting military operations in the region, to avoid a clash with Egypt.
The sources confirmed that the possibility of allowing the return of Gaza residents from the south to the north of the Strip, perhaps only women and children at first, is being studied. The other aspect being studied is the evacuation of residents from Rafah to other places within the Gaza Strip. This is with the aim of reducing congestion near the border with Egypt, thus reducing its fears.
In recent days, Israel has held talks with Egypt on the issue of the day after the war. From the Israeli side, the talks were led by the head of the Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, and the coordinator of government operations in the territories, General Ghassan Alian. Israel believes that Egypt has a very important role the day after the war, because it is the only land entry and exit gate to the Gaza Strip, in addition to being an influential and important factor in the Arab world.
According to the newspaper “Israel Hayom”, the evacuation of the residents of Rafah, if it takes place, will require time, and not before the beginning of next month.
The Hebrew newspaper reported that Egypt recently sent strong messages to Israel stating that the passage of Palestinian refugees from Gaza to Sinai would jeopardize the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel. The newspaper confirmed that Egypt made clear to Israel that it strongly opposes expanding the fighting to Rafah.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Tuesday that any move by Israel to expand its ground operation in Gaza to include the crowded city of Rafah in the south of the Strip could lead to “war crimes that must be prevented at all costs.”
In a statement, the United Nations quoted Jens Laerke, spokesman for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, as telling reporters in Geneva that “under international humanitarian law, indiscriminate bombing of densely populated areas could amount to war crimes.”
The statement indicated that this comes at a time when the Office of Humanitarian Affairs indicated an “increase in strikes” on Rafah Governorate on Sunday and Monday, while thousands of Gazans continue to flock to Rafah, including many who fled the violent fighting in Khan Yunis.
The UN statement pointed out that this displacement led to a five-fold increase in the population of Rafah since the outbreak of war in Gaza on October 7th. Laerke warned: “Intensified hostilities in Rafah in light of this situation could lead to significant loss of civilian lives, and we must do everything in our power to avoid that.”
On the ground, the Israeli army intensified its attack in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, in an attempt to end the fighting there as quickly as possible, before moving on to attack the border city of Rafah, a mission that still poses a dilemma for Israel, which is considering different plans.
Field sources in the factions told Asharq Al-Awsat that violent, face-to-face clashes are taking place in more than one axis in the Gaza Strip, the most violent of which is in Khan Yunis and in the areas north of the Strip. The sources confirmed that the Israeli army, despite storming most of Khan Yunis, is still facing fierce resistance there.
The Israeli army has been trying to control Khan Yunis, which it considers the capital of Hamas, for more than two months and is looking to reach the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Al-Sinwar, or those detained there. An Israeli army spokesman confirmed that “commando” units were engaged in face-to-face combat in Khan Yunis, above and below ground, and that the forces killed militants and carried out foot raids on superstructures and substructures, destroying them.
In return, Al-Qassam confirmed that its fighters killed more soldiers in the battles of Khan Yunis and destroyed tanks. A brief statement, among a series of statements, said: “The Al-Qassam Mujahideen were able to target a group of occupation soldiers barricaded inside a house with an anti-fortified bomb (TBG) and left them dead and wounded in the Al-Hawouz area, west of the city of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.”
On Tuesday, the Hamas Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced that 6 police officers were killed in an Israeli bombing of a vehicle in the city of Rafah, while eyewitnesses confirmed that they were securing an aid truck.
The ministry said in a brief statement: “Six Palestinian police officers were martyred after the Israeli occupation targeted their vehicle in the Khirbet Al-Adas neighborhood in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.” Eyewitnesses confirmed to Agence France-Presse that the six were “securing the passage of a truck transporting flour,” and indicated that “the bodies of the martyrs were in pieces.”
In turn, the Israeli army announced that three soldiers were wounded, on Tuesday, in the Gaza battles, and said that the number of officers and soldiers who had been injured since the beginning of the war on Gaza had risen to 2,828, including 1,304 since the start of the ground attack.
Since the beginning of the war on October 7, 562 officers and soldiers have been killed. As the fighting continued in the north and south of the Gaza Strip, Israeli aircraft continued to bomb various areas, causing more casualties and displaced people.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza said, on Tuesday, that the Israeli occupation committed 12 massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, claiming 107 martyrs and 143 injuries during the past 24 hours. The Ministry announced that the toll of the Israeli aggression had risen to 27,585 martyrs and 66,978 injuries since the seventh of last October.
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2024-02-07 10:43:22
#Israel #evacuating #displaced #people #Rafah #north #attacking
