Benyamin Netanyahu is rushing to invade Rafah, before the United States can in any way condition the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia on the ceasefire in Gaza and on hypothetical negotiations for the creation of a Palestinian state. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was expected in Israel on Tuesday, put these pieces together yesterday. “The more (normalization, ed.) moves from the hypothetical and theoretical to something that is actually possible, that becomes real, the more those involved will have to make decisions and make choices,” Blinken told CNN. What is solid is not easy to assess. The Israeli Prime Minister must not have welcomed the Secretary of State’s words. Netanyahu wants normalization with Saudi Arabia, he has been pursuing it since the signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020. But he wants it untied from the realization of the rights denied to the Palestinians.
While waiting for Blinken to clarify whether something is cooking, the Israeli army deploys its armored units close to Gaza in preparation for the attack on Rafah, the last stronghold of Hamas according to Israel. Analyst Wassef Erekat explained yesterday on Al Arabi Al Jadid that “months are needed to safely move civilians from the city (1.4 million)” to other areas of Gaza. “But Israel doesn’t have time to continue its offensive,” she added. Cairo, which fears (and foresees) a flight of Palestinian civilians towards the Sinai, has in the last few hours tried to restart talks for a truce between Israel and Hamas with its proposal which would involve the release of 33 Israeli hostages, including women, elderly and sick, in exchange for freezing the advance on Rafah. According to Israeli intelligence, only 33 of those kidnapped are still alive, out of a total of 133 held by Hamas and other fighting groups. «The Egyptians are really taking matters into their own hands. Egypt wants to see progress because it is worried about a possible operation in Rafah,” an Israeli source told al Jerusalem Postcommenting on ongoing discussions.
But the Egyptian delegates, expected in Tel Aviv yesterday, are not certain that the attempt will be successful. In addition to Israel’s obvious intention to attack the Palestinian city, it is unlikely at the moment that Hamas will release the living hostages in exchange for stopping the attack on Rafah without having the certainty of a permanent ceasefire. A senior Hamas leader, Ghazi Hamad, was very clear on this point yesterday. For this reason, Cairo has issued directives to the governorates in Sinai to speed up preparations of the emergency plan which will come into force next Tuesday, starting with the health sector. Measures which, however, are not linked to the inauguration two days ago of New Rafah, 42 buildings and 272 apartments built in record time which will welcome the inhabitants of Egyptian Rafah destroyed by the army to eliminate the 1,500 tunnels that connected it to Rafah until 2019 Palestinian. Someone had seen in those buildings the shelters for the Palestinians who will flock to the Sinai when the Israeli attack on Rafah begins. The new instructions were issued following the meeting that brought together the head of the Israeli Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, and the chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, with Egyptian military commanders and the head of intelligence in Cairo on Wednesday. Abbas Kamel. TV Channel 12 explained yesterday that the ongoing negotiation “is the last opportunity” to reach an agreement “before the (Israeli) army enters Rafah” and that “Hamas will not be allowed to talk only about 20 hostages as it has done in the days I saw.”
Increasingly black clouds are gathering over Rafah, which has been subjected to violent air raids for days. The news of the death of Sabrin, the premature baby taken out on Sunday night from the womb of her mother killed in a bombing, has generated profound sadness. The little girl died due to severe breathing difficulties. Her name joins the 34,356 Palestinians killed since October 7. Among the latest victims of the air raids was Shaima Al-Arair, daughter of the poet and academic Rifaat Al-Arair, killed four months ago by a missile. 51 dead and 75 injured have been taken to hospitals in the last 24 hours.
A United Nations official predicts that clearing the rubble, including unexploded ordnance, caused by Israel’s offensive could take up to 14 years. The bombing, he explained, generated at least 37 million tons of rubble in the most densely populated areas of Gaza and an unknown number of devices to be defused.
