SETH J. FRANTZMAN
The 162nd Division of the IDF's Armored Brigade operating in Rafah, June 2024(photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
Starting on the evening of May 6, the IDF has been operating in Rafah for six weeks now. Its first goal was to secure the Philadelphi Corridor along the border with Egypt. This was accomplished within three weeks. Now, the IDF is fanning out into Rafah city, its environs, and its neighborhoods, and when this operation is finished, there will be a large question mark regarding what will come next.
IDF chief spokesman R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari hinted at the existing challenges in an interview he gave to Channel 13 News on Wednesday. “To say that we are going to make Hamas disappear is to throw sand in people’s eyes. If we don’t provide an alternative, we will only have Hamas in the end,” he said.
The Chief of Staff, Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi, said something similar last month: “We are now operating once again in Jabalya. As long as there is no diplomatic process to develop a governing body in the enclave that isn’t Hamas, we’ll have to launch campaigns again and again in other places to dismantle Hamas’s infrastructure. It will be a Sisyphean task.” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and former war cabinet minister Benny Gantz have both called for a day-after strategy for Gaza.
No comments:
Post a Comment