Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated that Israel will assault the southern Gaza metropolis of Rafah, the final main space held by Hamas in Gaza. “It’s unimaginable to realize the aim of the struggle to remove Hamas by leaving 4 Hamas battalions in Rafah,” Netanyahu stated on February 9. Momentum has been constructing for weeks as Israel considers its subsequent steps in Gaza and faces constructing strain to forego an operation in Rafah.
Netanyahu stated that “intense exercise in Rafah requires civilians to evacuate the preventing areas.” Through the use of the phrase “intense,” he seems to be referring to the shift Israel made to a lower-intensity battle in Gaza in January. Israel defeated Hamas in northern Gaza in November and despatched paratroopers and commandos into the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis in December. Khan Younis was the headquarters of a number of key Hamas battalions and commanders. A few of the 136 hostages held in Gaza have been held in Khan Younis, and the IDF continues to uncover extra tunnels there in addition to proof that Hamas used them to carry hostages.
Israel will now search a “plan to evacuate the inhabitants and destroy the battalions,” Netanyahu stated. Stories counsel that there are as much as a million Gazans dwelling in and round Rafah. Three-quarters of the Hamas battalions, which numbered 24 once they attacked Israel on October 7, have been defeated, based on Israeli estimates. That would go away a number of battalions of 1000’s of males behind in Rafah.
Rafah, a key conduit for humanitarian support to Gaza that sits on the Egyptian border, has traditionally been a web site for smuggling into Gaza, together with weapons. Rafah is simply three miles from Khan Younis, the place the IDF has been working for 2 months. It’s linked by a highway to the Mawasi space, which was established as a humanitarian space for Gazans to flee to in October when the IDF started its floor offensive in Gaza.
On February 9, the IDF supplied new particulars about operations in Khan Younis. It stated a reservist brigade was concerned in “focused raids on terrorist infrastructure, participating the enemy, eliminating terrorists and finding many weapons.” This unit “positioned rocket launchers positioned by Hamas terrorists close to a kindergarten and mosque. The launchers, loaded and aimed on the territory of the State of Israel, have been destroyed by the forces. As well as, throughout searches of a civilian water plant within the space, the forces discovered a tunnel shaft resulting in an underground tunnel route inside the ability.” The destruction of the launcher is a part of a wider marketing campaign that has seen rocket fireplace from Gaza decreased to nearly zero in latest weeks. Hamas started its struggle towards Israel with 1000’s of rocket launches, however 4 months later has few remaining long-range rockets and websites from which to launch them.
The IDF additionally stated that particular forces “raided an space within the space that was utilized by Hamas terrorists to hold out assaults on IDF troops. As well as, IDF troops recognized a terrorist cell that planted explosives close to the troops working within the space. After their identification, IDF troops directed an plane to “assault and remove the terrorist cell,” the IDF stated. The IDF reviews typically consult with the uncovering of AK-47s and ammunition, a distinction to earlier within the struggle, when the cache revealed included heavier weapons similar to RPGs together with mines and different threats.
IDF troopers I spoke to who served in Gaza stated weapons are sometimes present in civilian houses, illustrating the tendency of Hamas to show total communities into weapons depots in addition to areas from which they battle. The IDF additionally stated on February 9 that it carried out an operation in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, whereas Hamas continues to attempt to infiltrate areas within the north, the place it was defeated in November.