Why Israel wants a military offensive in Rafah? Will this end the Gaza war?

With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approving the military plan for an offensive in Rafah last month, more than 1 million Palestinians living in the southern Gaza city are considering the option of staying or fleeing. Reports suggest that the Israeli army has called up two reserve brigades for duty in Gaza and set up tent camps in northern Rafah.

At least twenty Palestinians were killed in an airstrike on three houses in Rafah on Monday. In Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli warplanes struck two houses, killing at least four people and wounding several, health officials said, as reported by news agency Reuters.

US President Joe Biden had reiterated his clear position on Rafah to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in a telephone conversation on Sunday.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has “called on” the US to ask Israel to halt the operation in Rafah, noting that even a “small attack” in Rafah would force Palestinians to flee the Gaza Strip.

However, Israel had said the military offensive in Rafah is necessary to eliminate Hamas and free the remaining 133 hostages captured since the October 7 attack, most of whom are believed to be alive.

The attack in Rafah comes after international organizations made a renewed effort to push for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas. Hamas had said over the weekend that it was studying Israel’s counter-proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza after media reports emerged that a delegation from mediator Egypt was in Israel to “restart stalled negotiations.” to take”.

More than 85% of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have become homeless. Most of the displaced people have sought shelter in Rafah, which had a population of about 300,000 before the war.

Why is Rafah important?

Netanyahu had said: “It is impossible to complete the victory (against Hamas) without the Israeli army entering Rafah.”

Rafah is located along the 12-kilometer border that separates the Gaza Strip, a narrow 41-kilometer Palestinian territory along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, from Egypt. It is home to four Hamas combat battalions.

There are three main entry and exit points: the Erez crossing in the north and the Rafah crossing in the south. The Karem Abu Salem freight crossing is also located in the south of Gaza. The Erez crossing is controlled by Israel, while Rafah, a vast area of ​​mountains and desert, is controlled by Egypt.

Israel controls Gaza’s airspace and territorial waters, but Rafah is the only border crossing that is not directly beneath it.

Geographically and strategically, the Rafah crossing is the main entry point for people from Gaza, and also serves as an important connection between Gaza and the world.

The Rafah crossing is under Egyptian control under a 2007 agreement with Israel.

Only through Rafah do the people in Gaza receive essential items such as fuel, cooking gas, medicine and building materials from Egypt. However, the crossing remains closed most days of the year.

Israel opened the Rafah crossing after the 1979 peace treaty, and the movement of people from Gaza to Egypt remained under Israeli control from 1982 to 2005. From November 2005, the Rafah crossing came under the control of the Egyptian, Palestinian Authority and the European Union – the first time the Palestinians had gained partial control over one of their international borders.

After Hamas took control of Gaza in June 2007, the European Union withdrew control of the border. Israel and Egypt’s subsequent joint blockade and their decision to close the Rafah crossing after Hamas’ takeover effectively closed the Gaza Strip on all sides. Since then, the border crossing has only occasionally been open to Palestinians, according to a report by the American non-profit media organization National Public Radio. NPR.

What are Israel’s plans in Rafah?

“Hamas should know that when the IDF (Israeli Armed Forces) invade Rafah, the best thing to do is raise their hands in surrender. Rafah will not be the Rafah of today,” Israeli Brigadier General Itzik Cohen had told Israeli public broadcaster Kan, adding that the city would be free of weapons and hostages, as stated in a report. NPR report.

In February, Avi Melamed, a former Israeli intelligence official and negotiator in the first and second Palestinian intifadas, or uprisings, in the 1980s and 2000s, had told Reuters that Rafah is the last bastion of Hamas control and that there are “battalions in Rafah stay behind”. which Israel must dismantle to achieve its goals in this war.”

The Reuters According to the report, which cited an Israeli security source and an international aid official, Gaza residents could be screened to identify Hamas fighters before they were sent north. A separate Israeli source said Israel could also build a floating jetty north of Rafah to allow international aid and hospital ships to arrive by sea.