The developments in the Middle East are rapid. The Israeli armed forces have “defeated” the units of the military arm of Hamas in Rafah, on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip, on the closed border of the Palestinian enclave with Egypt, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallad said on Wednesday, during of his visit to his men in the field, while hopes for a truce fade.
“The (Hamas) brigade in Rafah was defeated and over 150 underground tunnels were destroyed” in that area, he assured. He added that he had ordered his troops to focus on destroying the remaining underground tunnels on the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt in the near future.
The chronicle of business in Rafa
- The Israeli military began ground operations in Rafah in early May, defying international outcry and concern for civilians, to destroy what its staff said were the remaining forces of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups there. About 1 million displaced people who had taken refuge in Rafah have mostly left.
- On May 7, the Israeli army seized the border crossing at Rafah and a narrow strip of land on the border known as the Philadelphia Corridor. This zone has become a major obstacle in the ongoing indirect negotiations to conclude a ceasefire agreement.
- Hamas demands the complete withdrawal of the Israeli armed forces from the Gaza Strip. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists his country’s armed forces will retain control of that zone even if a deal is struck to prevent the transfer of weapons, ammunition and other goods to the small besieged coastal enclave.
- The war, now in its 321st day, was sparked by an attack by Hamas’ military arm in southern Israel on October 7 that killed 1,199 people, mostly civilians, according to a count based on official Israeli data. Of the 251 abductees taken to the enclave that day, 105 are believed to be still being held hostage in the Gaza Strip, but 34 of them have been declared dead by the Israeli military.
- More than 40,200 Palestinians have been killed in large-scale Israeli military retaliatory operations in the Gaza Strip since then, which have caused massive destruction, according to Hamas’ health ministry. The ministry does not specify how many of the victims were civilians and how many were fighters, however the UN emphasizes that the majority of them were women and children.
- According to official figures from the Israeli armed forces, 333 of their members have been killed in the war in the Gaza Strip since ground operations began on October 27.
Hopes for a truce in Gaza are fading
US President Joe Biden “stressed the urgency of concluding a cease-fire agreement and the release of hostages” held in the Gaza Strip in his conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House announced on Wednesday.
He also referred to “upcoming talks in Cairo to overcome any remaining obstacles,” his services added in a laconic press release, as hopes of such a deal fading.
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