Israeli defense chief warns operation in Rafah will intensify as commando unit is deployed
Israel’s defense minister warned that the battles in Rafah will intensify and more troops will be deployed after a commando unit entered the city in southern Gaza.
Speaking to troops stationed along the Gaza border, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the IDF has already decimated parts of Hamas’ infrastructure in the outskirts of Rafah, with the military focusing on taking out the terror group for good.
“This operation will continue with additional forces that will enter [Rafah],” Gallant said in a statement. “Several tunnels in the area have been destroyed by our forces and more tunnels will be destroyed soon.
“This operation will intensify, and Hamas is not an organization that can regenerate itself now,” Gallant added.
“It has no reserves, it has no ability to manufacture weapons, it has no supplies, it has no munitions, it has no ability to properly treat terrorists who are injured, and this means that we are wearing it down.”
To accomplish that goal, the IDF deployed members of its Commando Brigade Wednesday night to join the 162nd Division and 401st brigade, which had already eliminated “several terrorist squads” stationed in eastern Rafah, according to the Israeli military.
The reinvigorated forces in Rafah have now taken down several rocket launchers with long-range capabilities on Thursday, the IDF said.
The weapons are believed to have been used to attack Israeli cities over the last seven months, including ones that fired at the city of Beersheba last week.
The fighting in Rafah comes as the war reignites in northern Gaza, with five Israeli soldiers killed and another seven wounded on Wednesday after a friendly fire incident in Jabalia, where Hamas has resurfaced.
The slain troops, all between the ages of 20 and 22, were part of the Paratroopers Brigade’s 202nd Battalion. They were struck by an Israeli tank that fired two shells at the building they were gathered around, according to the IDF.
Daniel Hemo, one of the soldiers killed, had fought off Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7 massacre and later donated his bone marrow to save a woman’s life, according to the Ezer Mizion Jewish bone marrow registry
Hemo and his colleagues’ deaths bring the Israeli military’s death toll during the ground offensive in Gaza to 278, the Times of Israel reports.
But while Israel has vowed to carry on the war until Hamas is destroyed and the remaining hostages in Gaza are freed, South Africa has called on the International Court of Justice to order a halt on the Rafah offensive as part of its case accusing the Jewish state of genocide.
“From the onset Israel’s intent was always to destroy Palestinian life and to wipe them off the face of the earth,” Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, the attorney for South Africa, calimed.
“Rafah is the final stand,” he added. “Israel must be stopped.”
Israel, which has denied the allegations of genocide, and said Hamas — which carried out the Oct. 7 attack — is the target of the war, and that it has tried to limit civilian casualties.
Israel is expected to file a response to South Africa’s latest claim by Friday.
The Jewish state has repeatedly faced criticisms, including from the US, over its ground offensive in Rafah, with the Biden Administration warning that America would not support a full-scale operation without a robust plan to avoid more civilian casualties.
Last week the Biden administration paused the shipment of roughly 3,500 precision bombs to Israel, with the State Department later publishing a preliminary report that claimed it is “reasonable to assess” Israel violated international humanitarian law in Gaza.
With Post wires
