The Israeli army will announce within days the defeat of Hamas in Rafah and the transition to the third phase of the war
The Israeli media revealed on Tuesday that the Israeli army will announce within days the defeat of the Hamas brigade in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, which means moving to the third phase of the war, after the first was shelling from outside the Strip and the second ground incursion into it.
Despite international warnings of the repercussions of the operation in Rafah, Israel announced on May 6 the start of attacking the city, which sparked a wave of anger and Arab and international condemnations and fears of massacres in the city, which was crowded with displaced people.
“The IDF’s assessment is that in a few days it will be possible to declare the defeat of the Rafah Brigade, and in fact the final completion of the intense phase of the ground maneuver throughout the Strip will be finally completed,” the IDF Radio said.
“This means that the IDF will completely switch to raids in the entire Strip, and the security establishment estimates that even in the third phase of the war, we will be required to leave two divisions in Gaza to continue carrying out repeated strikes”.
In recent weeks, Israeli media have suggested that the third phase of the war means a transition from intensive bombardment of the Gaza Strip to targeted bombardment based on intelligence information.
The IDF radio claimed that the IDF’s 162nd Division has killed 750 Palestinian militants since the beginning of its operation in Rafah.
The IDF estimates that thousands of militants fled Rafah, only about a quarter of the militants who were in Rafah before the operation remained in the field fighting against the IDF, and the rest fled.
In this context, she stated that the army was unable to eliminate the Hamas Tal al Sultan and al Shaboura battalions in Rafah.
Despite its talk of ending the military operation in Rafah soon, the radio noted that the army will remain for several months in the area of the Philadelphia axis on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
IDF Radio said, “The operation that won’t end soon in Rafah is the destruction of smuggling tunnels on the Philadelphia axis”.
“Even after the forces leave Rafah, there is an intention for the forces to remain in the Philadelphia axis and continue to hold it until further notice”.
The IDF estimates that it will take several more months for the smuggling tunnels to Egypt to be fully detected and destroyed.
