The inhabitants of Rafah, the southernmost metropolis within the Gaza Strip that shares a border with Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, earlier than the warfare was 170,000. At present, seven months after Israel launched its warfare on Gaza, as many as 1.5 million individuals dwell in Rafah. Lots of them are camped on the streets and seashores, whereas others are crammed into soiled and overcrowded makeshift shelters.
Rafah is now a “gigantic refugee camp,” says the Norwegian Refugee Council. Based on a physician who labored in Rafah, the town is a “closed jail.” Docs are struggling to offer even fundamental assist and forestall the outbreak and unfold of ailments. Based on Motion Assist, each particular person in Gaza “is now hungry and folks have only one.5 to 2 liters of contaminated water per day to satisfy all their wants.” Nearly all of Gaza’s inhabitants is now overcrowded in Rafah. It’s in Rafah that Israel is finishing up its newest offensive.
Rafah has at all times been a flashpoint within the Israeli-Palestinian battle, given its territorial proximity to Egypt. After the 1948 Arab-Israeli Conflict, Rafah got here beneath Egyptian rule together with different elements of the Gaza Strip. Tens of hundreds of Palestinians who had been displaced from their houses when Israel was created settled in Gaza.
Throughout the Suez disaster, Rafah was attacked as Israeli troops marched in direction of the Sinai by way of Gaza. On November 12, 1956, the IDF raided a refugee camp in Rafah, killing at the very least 111 Palestinians, in what turned often called the Rafah bloodbath.
After the 1967 Six-Day Conflict, all of Gaza, together with Rafah, got here beneath direct navy occupation by Israel. Israel would preserve direct management over the enclave till 2005.
After the newest warfare started on October 7, 2023, Israel ordered the evacuation of greater than 1 million Palestinians residing in northern Gaza. Most of them fled their houses and moved to southern cities corresponding to Khan Younis and Rafah. When Khan Younis was attacked, there was one other flight of refugees to the south. At present, most of Rafah’s inhabitants are internally displaced Palestinians.
Earlier than Israel launched the Rafah offensive, dramatic occasions occurred. The US had warned Israel in opposition to launching a full-scale invasion of Rafah, arguing that such an assault would kill extra Palestinian civilians. However Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Israel will press forward with the plan to invade Rafah, defying worldwide stress, warnings and pleas. However Netanyahu can be beneath stress to convey again the remaining hostages. Israel says 128 hostages kidnapped on October 7 are nonetheless in Hamas captivity, though a lot of them are feared lifeless. There are rising protests in Israel, calling on the federal government to succeed in a cope with Hamas to convey the hostages again. Israel and Hamas, aided by mediators together with america, Egypt and Qatar, had held a number of rounds of talks in Cairo to succeed in a ceasefire settlement.
Whereas the high-quality particulars of the ceasefire proposal have but to be made public, experiences within the Egyptian and Saudi media advised that mediators had proposed a three-phase settlement that might see the discharge of all Palestinian hostages and prisoners and finally would finish the warfare. . Within the first section, Israel was anticipated to stop fireplace for 40 days and launch Palestinian prisoners in trade for the discharge of 33 hostages.
Within the second section, the ceasefire can be prolonged for an additional 42 days, whereas all remaining residing hostages can be launched.
The proposals within the third section had been essentially the most controversial. Israel wished Hamas to launch the our bodies of all of the hostages and Hamas wished a complete and lasting ceasefire and a whole withdrawal from Gaza.
Israel says no to each Hamas calls for. Israeli troops have been deployed in northern and central Gaza, successfully creating the northern finish of the strip as a buffer zone between Israel itself and the individuals of Gaza. If Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza, Israeli officers say, each Palestinians and Hamas militants would return to areas close to the Israeli border. And if Israel agrees to a long-lasting ceasefire, the remaining Hamas battalions would survive.
When Israel launched the warfare on October 7, it made public its twin goal: to dismantle Hamas and free the hostages. Seven months into the warfare, during which roughly 35,000 Palestinians have been killed, Israel has met none of its targets. A sensible answer to the hostage disaster is to succeed in an settlement with Hamas. However Hamas would launch the hostages solely in trade for a ceasefire. And if Israel agrees to a ceasefire, Hamas would survive. That is the dilemma Netanyahu faces.
Beforehand, Biden administration officers had stated Hamas was the principle impediment to a ceasefire. Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared on Might 4 that “the one factor standing between the individuals of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas.” However on Might 6, Doha-based Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh stated the group accepted the ceasefire proposal advised by mediators in Cairo. Hamas’ announcement got here hours after the Israel Protection Forces (IDF) ordered the evacuation of at the very least 100,000 Palestinians from Rafah. Netanyahu’s authorities instantly rejected Hamas’ supply, saying it didn’t meet Israel’s basic calls for. The Prime Minister later stated that Israel would by no means agree to finish the warfare in Gaza as a part of a cope with Hamas.
Netanyahu’s arduous line on Rafah has created strains in Israel’s ties with america. Beforehand, President Biden had stated {that a} large-scale assault on Rafah with out an satisfactory plan to guard civilians can be a pink line for him. The United Nations has repeatedly warned that any assault on overcrowded Rafah would result in a humanitarian disaster. If he abandons the plan to assault Rafah and reaches a cope with Hamas over the hostages, Netanyahu’s authorities may fall, as his far-right allies, corresponding to Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, have already warned in opposition to such a transfer. If it goes forward with the plan to invade Rafah, extra Palestinian civilians can be killed, Israel can be additional remoted globally, and tensions in ties with america would enhance. However Netanyahu would not appear to care.
“If Israel has to fend for itself, it would achieve this alone,” he stated on Might 10, lower than a month after American, British, French and Jordanian protection techniques, together with the IDF, shot down a lot of the drones and cruise and ballistic plane. missiles launched by Iran in direction of Israel.
Learn extra: Rafá | Opening the gates of hell
Learn extra: Israel’s “restricted” navy operation in Rafah | Defined
Script and presentation: Stanly Johny
Video: Thamodharan B.
Manufacturing: Ravichandran N.
