Rafah is where the last remaining Hamas battalions are concentrated and defeating them is key to winning the war. Hamas’ top commanders are hiding, and holding an unknown number of hostages, in miles of underground tunnels between Khan Younis and Rafah on the Egyptian border.
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Since dismantling Hamas’ operational control over northern and central Gaza, Israel is now fighting to destroy the Hamas infrastructure in the southern city of Khan Younis.
With Rafah’s suspected weapons-smuggling tunnels running into the Sinai, four Hamas battalions and an underground tunnel network for the Hamas leadership to fall back on, destroying Hamas there is the deciding factor as to whether Iran’s terror proxy survives the war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made it clear that Rafah and the Philadelphi Route are must-haves in order to finish the mission in the Gaza war.
After five months of fighting in underground tunnel conditions, Israel is confident of its ability to prevail in Rafah. Once Khan Younis falls, Rafah will be Hamas’ last stand.
President Biden is not supportive, despite the immense risks regionally
U.S. President Joe Biden told MSNBC on Sunday, however, that a Rafah operation would cross a “red line," although he balanced that statement with a commitment to support Israel’s right to self-defense. With sufficient bilateral coordination, and wise conduct, however, Israel can have the U.S.’s back in this operation.
The Americans should understand the consequences of that red line: a guarantee that another October 7 will happen again, that hostages will never come home, that an emboldened Iran will intensify on all fronts and that Hamas-oppressed civilians will suffer indefinitely.
President Biden could be bowing to internal pressure prior to the election
One of the reasons for this could be President Biden’s willingness to avoid dissent at the Democratic National Convention in August, and he is worried about losing the state of Michigan in the coming election as young people and Arab-Americans defect over his Israel policy. Israel has a right to defend itself, he seems to now be saying, but it should stop the war now. President Biden expressed this dichotomous position in his State of the Union address last week and reiterated this point in the MSNBC interview.
Hamas disinformation minimizes the risks
When Hamas invaded Israel, it did so knowing there would be a massive response by Israel and an operation into Gaza. It knew many Gazan civilians would die, indeed they counted on it, referring to their population as a “nation of martyrs.” In the process of extirpating Hamas, it was sadly inevitable that civilians would be killed. This was because Hamas intended it that way for propaganda appeal.
President Biden and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres are wielding Hamas disinformation as a weapon to pressure Israel not to enter Rafah. Guterres says an Israeli military “assault” on the southern Gaza city of Rafah “could plummet the people of Gaza into an even deeper circle of hell.” Guterres urged Israel and Hamas to honor the Muslim holy month of Ramadan by “silencing the guns” in the Gaza Strip. The insistent effort by governments, officials and some of the media in the U.S. and Europe to pressure Israel to relent against enemies that actively seek to destroy it gives rise to the suspicion that, for too many of them, perhaps Israel does not deserve the right to exist at all.
Amir Avivi Photo: DANIEL 'STRAVOIsrael Will Do All It Can To Alleviate Suffering In Rafah
In his interview with Fox, Prime Minister Netanyahu pledged that the IDF would “first enable the safe departure of the civilian population from Rafah before we go in”. “We don’t need any prompting,” he said. Israel has also agreed to open the Kerem Shalom Crossing for inspection of trucks carrying humanitarian aid and to alleviate congestion at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. Israel is planning to establish 15 sites with medical field clinics across the southwestern area of the Gaza Strip. It has done everything possible to enable civilian evacuation in every other major city where it defeated Hamas – and it will surely do the same in Rafah.
- Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi is the chairman and founder of Israel Defense And Security Forum - Habithonistim