Night of fighting at Rafah. The Israeli army conducted aincursion to put pressure on Hamas in view of the negotiations that will be held in Cairo with the aim of reaching a truce agreement that is satisfactory to both parties. The operation was launched after the Jewish State rejected the draft agreement modified by Egypt and unilaterally approved by the terrorists.
A correspondent of Afp in the city talked about heavy bombings lasted all night, while the Kuwaiti hospital declared to the CNN that at least 11 people were killed and many others were injured, although the timing of the deaths is unclear. THE tanks they entered the Strip from the Kerem Shalom crossing and reached the urban agglomeration, reaching approximately 200 meters from the border with Egypt. The broadcaster Al-Aqsa TVlinked to Hamas, reported that the Israelis informed Cairo that the troops would withdraw once the operation was completed.
The incursion of Tel Aviv’s ground and air forces was concentrated in the eastern neighborhoods of the city, whose approximately 100 thousand residents had been invited to evacuate and move to the “expanded humanitarian zone” between Khan Younis and al-Mawasi already during the morning of Monday 6 May. The order arrived despite repeated opposition from the United States, which was opposed to any attack on the city on the border with Egypt given the presence of around 1.5 million of people who took refuge there during the seven months of war. However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly reiterated that the invasion of the last Hamas stronghold would take place “with or without agreement“, since canceling it would have been equivalent to one surrender. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk commented on the evacuation as “ainhuman order“, while the terrorist organization claimed that it was “a dangerous escalation“and be ready to fight.
According to the Jewish State, however, this action plan is the only effective way to force Hamas to give up its claims regarding the ceasefire agreement, in particular the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the conclusion definitive of hostilities. Two conditions, these, indicated by Israeli officials as “unacceptable” and also present in the proposal approved on Monday by the terrorists’ political office, which Tel Aviv sources said they had never seen. The war cabinet chaired by Netanyahu decided to send a team of negotiators in Cairo, in an attempt to reach an agreement and secure the release of the hostages.
However, the chances of reaching an agreement after months of stalemate and the heated military and diplomatic clashes of the last few days seem very distant.
