What does Israel’s control of Rafah mean for the future of the Gaza Strip? – Middle East Monitor

For more than two weeks, the Israeli occupation army has been involved in a multiple land operation, starting from Salah al-Din Street, previously known as the Netzarim axis, in the center of the Gaza Strip, which expands to cover the entire city of Rafah and the eastern part of Khan Yunis in the south, before extending until the district of Shujay Beit, and Weit Hanun, and Weit, and Weit Haneun, and Be Beit, and Weit Haneun, and Weit Haneun and Be Beit, and Weit Han and the District of Shujaya, EAST of the city of Gaza. Lahia in the north and the coastal strip of the north of the territory.

In a repetition of what the Israeli occupation army did in the north of the Gaza Strip in October last year under what was known as the “General” plan, Haaretz He has revealed the efforts of the Occupation Army to annex the city of Rafah, which constitutes a fifth of the Earth in Gaza to the damping zone from which the Palestinians are prohibited.

The Israeli newspaper said that the damping zone prepared by the Occupation Army will cover 75 square kilometers, located between the philadelphia and Morag axes, and includes the city of Rafah and its neighboring districts. Indeed, it means the total annihilation of any Palestinian existence of the city, and probably the existence of the city itself.

Haaretz He added that with the annexation of Rafah and its surrounding neighborhoods, the Occupation Army will not allow Palestinian civilians to return to the city.

In fact, he is “considering the demolition of all buildings in Rafah.”

Annexar a city of the size of Rafah to the new cushion zone of Israel, said the newspaper, “will convert the strip of Gaza into an enclave within the Israeli territory, distancing it from the Egyptian border.” This opinion on Israeli military sources based, noting that the proposed plan for Rafah and its surrounding areas is a “repetition of what was done in the north of the Gaza Strip.”

The Occupation Army announced the expansion of its land operation in the south of the Gaza Strip on March 29 to expand the safety zone of the shock absorber that described as the “defensive security area”, while warning the Palestinians in Rafah to evacue. Days later, the occupation forces, a large -scale incursion in the city of Rafah as part of its military operation on and outside in the South Gaza Strip, displaying the 36th Division of Fight to the Area.

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Haaretz He saw the talk about the annexation of Rafah to the damping zone as a vote of a decision of political leadership to renew the war against the Gaza Strip in March. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel would control large parts of the Gaza Strip.

“The Army now realizes that it is unlikely that Israel receives international support for prolonged operation in the Gaza Strip, even from the United States, and that the threats made by the members of the Government to block the humanitarian aid Calice to be Ullikik,” he said Haaretz. “Therefore, the army prepares to focus its campaign on the areas that believe they will exert pressure on the leadership of Hamas.”

These statements occur despite the failure of Tel Aviv to impose its completely control over the areas in the Northern Gaza Strip, where it tried for months to evacuate the residues of Beit Lahia and Jabalia in the hope of establishing a broader buffer zone.

In this context, Haaretz He cited Israeli soldiers criticizing Tel Aviv’s policies through the course of war. “The army has continued to repeat the same messages from the beginning of the war, without facing reality … military operations take us back to the starting point, without anyone knowing how long this will last, what is the objective of the operation or what has been achieved operationally,” said the reserve officers and the soldiers alike.

This revelation by Haaretz He arrived a few days after the Israeli occupation army announced the beginning of military operations in what is known as the Morag axis in the Southern Gaza Strip. The Palestinian warnings continued, stating that the movement aims to “maintain the occupation of Gaza and divide it”, since the axis separates the cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis in the south of the Palestinian territory.

The axis is named after an Israeli settlement that was in the Gaza Strip before the occupation removed their settlers in 2005. The spokesman for the Israeli army, Avichay Adraee, published photos on social networks, stating that they showed “the initial operations carried out by the forces of the 36th division in the Axis Morag.”

Israeli control in the city of Rafah would mean total destruction and “the absence of Palestine,” said an expert in military strategy.

Elias Hanna Brigade General told him Al Jazeera That the map published by Haaretz It is not new and that what is represented is simply a tactical development that serves the strategic objective of the Israeli occupation, which is related to the so -called “general plan” aimed at controlling the north of the Gaza Strip for denouncing their denunciation to the dots to the waste of the seid to the seid.

He explained that the buffer zone had between 700 and 1,100 meters wide to five points, then it becomes about 100 meters wide, with systematic demolitions carried out by the occupancy forces duration of its continuous assault areas of the Palestinian territor.

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Hanna said Netanyahu said before that the philadelphic axis is a matter of life or death due to her belief in the presence of tunnels through the border in Egypt. Has noticed that Jerusalem post He had claimed that only 25 percent of Gaza’s tunnels have been destroyed.

Hi, he also highlighted the statements of Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, in which they would say that they would like Hamas not to free the Israeli captives, statements that are put to Hanna, fall in within. He confirmed it previously that the approach to the Occupation Army in Shujaya, Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun is tactical within a broader strategy aimed at fragmenting the Gaza Strip and isolating civilians from resistance.

Regarding the impact of Israeli operations in Rafah on the Egyptian border, Hanna explained that, given the control of Israel of the Rafah border crossing, Gaza is completely isolated from Egypt, which means that a new one between both sides. He questioned whether Egypt will accept the current situation or not.

At least 65 percent of the Gaza Strip has now become “damping areas” within which Palestinians are prohibited, or areas under evacuation warnings, according to a UN report published by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Oca explained that since March 18, the Occupation Army has issued 13 evacuation orders, placing around 126.6 square kilometers, 35 percent, of the Gaza Strip under active forced displacement orders.

The report also declared that, in addition to this area, the occupation authorities asked the UN to coordinate the movement in the prohibited area along the Gaza Strip, and through the Wadi Gaza area, the so -called Netzarim axis.

The Occupation Army established the axis in early November 2023 at the beginning of the genocide in the Gaza Strip, to isolate the city of Gaza and the governments of the north of the central and southern areas. It extends from the most oriental borders of the Gaza Strip to the coast, insecting with the main road of Salah Al-Din, before the army was withdrawn in February as part of the first phase of a high the fire agreement later rengated.

The Ocha report indicated that these areas collectively represent 65 percent of the area of ​​the Gaza Strip.

As of March 18, when the occupation authorities unilaterally violated the Fire Alto Agreement, the “damping areas” designated by the Occupation Army, represented around 17 percent of the Gaza Strip.

At the Beginning of March, The First Phase of A Ceasefire and Prison Itdatmdat itedat matdatmdat medatmdat matdat matdat matdatmdat matdat matdat matdat matdat matdat itdatmdat moddat moddatmdatmdat itdat it it deatmdat it deatwodat moddat mododat it defoddat moddat moddat moddat moddat moddat moddat moddat moddat moddat moddat Moddatmudat Mododat Mododat itedat? Of Gaza. At the beginning of the second phase, apparently, in response to the pressure of extremists in the ruling coalition.

With Full Us Support, Israel Has Been Committing Genocide In Gaza Since October, 2023. It has killed at least 51,000 Palesenians and Wounded 116,500 More, With 11000 Missing, presumed Dead, under their homes and Othery and Othery and Othered Homes and Othered or Theire Org. Othered or Theirs Homes and Othered or Theirs Homes and theired Homes and Eirs Homes and Eirs Homes and Theirs Casas and their homes and their. State. Most of the Palestinian victims are children and women. More than 2 million Palestinians have been displaced at least once the same period is questioned.

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