GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 128

Warnings Over Rafah

Egypt, US Not In Favor Of Advance

As Prime Minister Netanyahu orders the IDF to submit a plan to take the war to the southernmost city in Gaza of Rafah, world powers are strongly against as we read in an article from The Jerusalem Post:

US President Joe Biden and Egypt’s Foreign Ministry warned Israel against a military operation in Gaza’s Rafah, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu turned to the American media to explain that such a step is a necessity for an Israeli victory against Hamas.

Biden spoke about the matter directly with Netanyahu in a phone call, that followed public statements the White House had made on the matter.

Biden “reaffirmed his view that a military operation in Gaza should not proceed without a credible and executable plan for ensuring the safety of and support for the more than one million people sheltering there,” the White House said after the call.

The Prime Minister responded to the demands

Netanyahu responded that the Rafah operation is necessary but would take place only after civilians had been evacuated, according to an Israeli source.

The US president also emphasized to Netanyahu the importance of “urgent and specific steps” to increase humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza.

Egypt, which shares a border with Rafah weighed in this way:

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry separately warned of “the dire consequences of such action,” which it said risks “worsening the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.”

Such concerns are getting more than a little redundant since Israel is well aware of the citizens that need to be relocated and included it in their plans from the start.

“We Intend To Win The War”

Netanyahu said in an interview that ridding Rafah of Hamas needs to be done:

Netanyahu told ABC that an Israeli victory in Gaza is contingent on a military operation in Rafah to destroy Hamas operations there.

“Those who say that under no circumstances should we enter Rafah are basically saying lose the war, keep Hamas there,” Netanyahu said.

“We’re going to get the remaining Hamas terrorist battalions in Rafah, which is the last bastion, but we’re going to do it, and in this, I agree with the Americans, while providing safe passage for the civilian population so they can leave,” Netanyahu stated.

Israel, he said, is “working out a detailed plan to do so.”

“This is part of our war effort to get civilians out of harm’s way; it’s part of Hamas’s effort to keep them in harm’s way,” he noted.

“Victory is within reach,” Netanyahu stressed.

The British also added their concerns:

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron posted on X that he was “Deeply concerned about the prospect of a military offensive in Rafah – over half of Gaza’s population are sheltering in the area.

“The priority must be an immediate pause in the fighting to get aid in and hostages out, then progress towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire,” he added.

Lost in the incessant chatter about how bad moving the theater to Rafah, but first getting humanitarian aid and the release of the hostages is that Hamas will not agree to those requests. Predictably they won’t do anything until the war against them is ended. They want to survive and they lost the right to do that when they attacked on October 7th.

The IDF Is Very Precise

Netanyahu told ABC that they are keeping the civilian to terrorist casualties to a very low percentage:

In his interview with ABC, Netanyahu defended Israel’s treatment of civilians in combat zones in Gaza. Hamas has asserted that over 28,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war.

Netanyahu said that half of the Palestinians killed were terrorists, as he explained that the IDF was leading a precision operation that was unparalleled in military history when battling a non-state actor.

“We have brought down the civilian to terrorist casualties ratio, down to below one to one, which is considerably less than in any other theater of similar warfare,” he said.

The PM added specific numbers to back up his assessment:

“We have killed and wounded over 20,000 Hamas terrorists, out of that about 12,000 fighters. We are doing everything we can to minimize civilian casualties and continue to do so,” Netanyahu said.“What we are not going to do is to let Hamas emerge victorious, and if we leave it will be a tremendous victory for the Iran terror axis,” he said.

“It has to be understood and victory will be the best thing that will happen. I cannot see a future for Palestinians or peace in the Middle East if Hamas is victorious in Gaza,” he said.

I don’t remember any war fought with so much concern for how it is fought and somehow the IDF is finding a way to abide by international war procedures. Yet, for all its efforts the international community continues to not only take the casualty figures from Hamas as accurate and also never demand that Hamas fight on those terms.

A Curious Cacophony Of Voices

As I researched for this report I kept seeing so many countries voicing concerns over moving into Rafah and it made me wonder why now and why there? These countries are alright with Israel eliminating Hamas, but when the IDF has the last battalion in its sights they scream to stop. And their reasoning almost appears to be coordinated as they use the same phrases and concerns. Is this scripted or planned by a central source? I may never know, but what I do know and have always maintained is that when Hamas is on its last fumes, the calls for leniency would abound. My other concern is that when the IDF is close to eliminating the Hamas threat, Hezbollah and Iran’s other proxies will up their attacks and even enter the war completely. Hezbollah has a major amount of sophisticated rockets and military weaponry that can do serious damage to Israel if they want to and if they unleash it, the IDF will have no choice but to break out their big guns. In such a scenario, the gloves will come off and nothing the world community says will stop Israel from dealing a death blow to the surrounding terrorists. Israel will be hit hard initially and will suffer a great deal of casualties, but they will not have to say never again another time. They will become a major superpower in the Middle East and will finally be able to live in peace and safety as seen in Ezekiel 38. And I also believe that they will expand their borders and tear down the walls they have because there be no need to keep terrorists out.