Army chief criticizes government
Israeli military continues to advance in Rafah
May 12, 2024, 6:04 a.m
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Israel is sharply criticized for the offensive in Rafah. US President Biden is even threatening to restrict arms deliveries. Nevertheless, the military continues its advances in the southern Gaza Strip. At the same time, the army chief complains about the lack of a diplomatic process.
The Israeli army says it is continuing its advances in the refugee-filled city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip. “Our operations against Hamas in Rafah remain limited and focused on tactical advances, tactical adjustments and military advantages, and have avoided densely populated areas,” army spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a statement. At the same time, Israel also attacked targets in the center and north of the Gaza Strip, including in Zeitun in Gaza City and in Jabaliya. In recent weeks, attempts by Hamas to reposition itself militarily have been observed, said Hagari. Palestinians reported massive airstrikes and several deaths and injuries.
On Saturday, the army called on the population to leave other areas in Rafah and Jabaliya, among others. At the beginning of the week, Israel initially deployed ground troops in the eastern outskirts of Rafah. Since then, “dozens of terrorists have been eliminated,” underground tunnels have been uncovered and large quantities of weapons have been seized, Hagari said. Israel’s military actions in the part of the sealed-off coastal strip bordering Egypt are highly controversial internationally.
Supply could collapse
Until recently, more than a million people who had fled from other parts of the Gaza Strip were crowded there. It’s not just aid organizations that fear that an expansion of the Israeli offensive could lead to hundreds of thousands of civilians being caught between the fronts. The already precarious supply of people could collapse completely. The US, Israel’s most important ally, is warning urgently against a large-scale offensive.
US President Joe Biden recently even threatened to restrict arms deliveries to Israel. Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned Israel against expanding the operation. “We consider an offensive on Rafah (…) to be irresponsible,” said the SPD politician. The Israeli army justifies the military action in Rafah, which was threatened months ago, by wanting to destroy the last Hamas battalions and destroy the smuggling tunnels suspected to be under the border with Egypt. The aim of the “precise” operation was to achieve a “permanent defeat of Hamas” and bring back all the hostages, said Hagari.
At the same time, the Israeli army chief expressed clear criticism of the political leadership in the war. Due to the lack of a political strategy for the period after the war, the soldiers would have to fight again and again in places in the Gaza Strip, such as now in Jabalia, which they had actually previously taken and from which they had already withdrawn, complained Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi, according to media reports, during security consultations with the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “As long as there is no diplomatic process to establish a non-Hamas administration in Gaza, we will have to repeatedly launch campaigns in other places to destroy Hamas’ infrastructure,” the Israeli military chief was quoted as saying in the Times of Israel ” quoted. “It will be a Sisyphean task.”