The Israeli army wants to expand its fighting against the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip – including to Rafah in the south. There are now more than a million Palestinians there. But the diplomatic struggle continues.
Israel wants to push its military offensive against Hamas to the southern end of the Gaza Strip at the Rafah border crossing, where more than a million Palestinians have sought refuge. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced that the army’s successes in fighting the Palestinian militant Islamist group in the southern city of Khan Yunis meant troops could also advance to Rafah on the Egyptian border.
“We are carrying out our tasks in Khan Yunis, and we will also reach Rafah and eliminate terrorist elements that threaten us,” Gallant said.
Most of the aid comes via Rafah
More than half of the coastal area’s approximately 2.2 million inhabitants are now staying in Rafah, mostly freezing and starving in makeshift tents or emergency shelters in public buildings. They are looking for protection there from the fighting. The majority of aid deliveries for the civilian population also come via Rafah.
The Rafah border crossing is controlled by Egyptian and Palestinian officials, with the latter being under the control of Hamas. Israeli leaders suspect that tunnels running under the Egypt-Gaza border continue to be used to smuggle goods and weapons for Hamas.
Germany urges restraint
In view of the announcement, the federal government called on Israel to exercise restraint and to provide increased protection for civilians. “There are also rules when it comes to the right to self-defense. International military law also applies to the fight against terrorists,” said a spokesman for the Foreign Office. Israel must comply with this even if Hamas does not comply.
“We have therefore already asked Israel very clearly several times to adapt its operations, to better protect civilians, to better protect UN facilities and hospitals in particular, and to allow significantly more humanitarian aid.” The spokesman pointed out that many of the people in Rafah come from the northern Gaza Strip and had followed the Israeli army’s request to leave the area. “The people Israel previously asked to leave northern Gaza cannot now simply disappear into thin air,” he said. They need to be protected.
Gray areas: Built-up areas in the Gaza Strip, hatching: Israeli army
The United Nations was also concerned. The situation in Rafah does not look good, said Jens Lærke, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Rafah is “a pressure cooker of despair, and we fear what comes next,” Lærke said. “Every week we think it can’t get any worse. … But it’s getting worse.” The UN authority is therefore deeply concerned.
Struggle for a ceasefire and the release of hostages
Meanwhile, the diplomatic struggle for a longer ceasefire and the associated release of the more than 100 hostages remaining in the hands of the extremists continued. Mediators Qatar and Egypt hoped for a positive response from Gaza’s ruling Hamas to the first concrete proposal agreed with Israel and the United States at talks in Paris last week.
A representative from the Palestinian side said it was unlikely that Hamas would reject the proposal outright, according to Reuters news agency. But it will demand guarantees that fighting will not resume, something Israel has not agreed to.
The ceasefire proposal envisages the release of hostages in three stages: In a first phase of 40 days, in which the fighting would cease, the remaining civilians among the hostages should be released. Then the abducted soldiers should be released, and finally the bodies of hostages should be handed over. During a week-long ceasefire at the end of November, Hamas released dozens of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prison inmates on the Israeli side.