The criminal war being waged by Israel in Gaza may be coming to an end as the Israeli military advances to capture Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. This point on the border with Egypt is providing relative security for the more than 1.4 million Palestinian civilians forcibly displaced within the territory. The seven-month war, which has killed some 35,000 Palestinians and devastated Gaza’s cities, has led to an increase of tensions in the Middle East and brought Israel and the US to the brink of a military conflict with Iran and its regional allies.

The Rafah offensive and the world’s reaction

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing trial for his past crimes, has vowed that he will continue with the ground offensive on Rafah and destroy completely innocent Palestinian civilians. Numerous warnings from the Arab nations, the US and many other countries around the world to refrain from taking this step have failed to sway Netanyahu, who has nothing to lose in the present situation. The Israeli army has completed its preparations for an attack on Rafah in an area in northern Gaza, not far from where Israeli tanks and troops have gathered ahead of a long-anticipated assault on the enclave’s southernmost city. It is quite obvious that there will be a large-scale and bloody attack on Palestinian civilians who have nowhere to run.

On May 7, The Times of Israel reported that IDF armored units had entered Rafah early in the morning, and the IDF claimed to have launched massive strikes on targets in the eastern part of the city and destroyed a number of residences and buildings. According to the Al Mayadeen television channel, Israeli troops and heavy military equipment entered the Rafah border crossing area from Palestinian territory. The operation of the border crossing was completely halted, and the passage of vehicles carrying passengers and humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip was stopped, which, according to Western journalists present there, will cause severe famine and epidemics of various diseases. As Al Jazeera television channel notes, there are reports of numerous persons killed and wounded following the bombing of a residential building in the township of al-Tanur, east of Rafah, and five dead in the west of the city. At least 20 casualties were later reported.

Hamas has described the Israeli forces’ control of the Rafah crossing from the Gaza Strip as an attempt to prevent talks on a ceasefire and the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners. It has called on the international community to put pressure on Israel to “prevent the lives of hundreds of thousands of displaced people in Rafah and throughout the Palestinian enclave from being put at risk.”

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has expressed grave concern over the military operation in Rafah and called on the Israeli government to stop escalating the Middle East conflict and engage constructively in ceasefire negotiations in the Gaza........

© New Eastern Outlook