Posted on 02/09/2024 8:56:20 PM PST by lightman
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Friday that he has ordered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to develop a plan to evacuate the population of the Gaza Strip city of Rafah, to make way for a military assault targeting elements of the Hamas terrorist group there.
“It is impossible to achieve the goal of the war of eliminating Hamas by leaving four Hamas battalions in Rafah. On the contrary, it is clear that intense activity in Rafah requires that civilians evacuate the areas of combat,” the Israeli prime minister’s office said in a post on the X social media platform on Friday afternoon. “Therefore, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the IDF and the security establishment to submit to the Cabinet a combined plan for evacuating the population and destroying the battalions.”
The Netanyahu administration rejected terms Hamas leaders had offered for a ceasefire and release of hostages Hamas took during its attacks across southern Israel on Oct. 7.
On Wednesday, Mr. Netanyahu claimed Israeli forces had killed, wounded, or captured around 20,000 Hamas fighters since Oct. 7, “shattered” 18 of 24 Hamas combat battalions, and are “mopping up” the remaining battalions with ongoing military action. Mr. Netanyahu’s Friday comments appear to reflect a revised Israeli estimate that 20 Hamas combat battalions have now been taken out of the fight.
Exact casualty figures from the Gaza conflict are difficult to independently verify. As of Friday, the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry had estimated nearly 28,000 Gazans had been killed in the ongoing fighting in the strip. The Gaza Health Ministry does not clearly distinguish between combatants and civilians in its death toll. Biden Admin Cautions Against Rafah Humanitarian ‘Disaster’ The city of Rafah lies at the southern end of the Gaza Strip and runs along the border with Egypt. Related Stories Biden Says Israel’s Military Response in Gaza ‘Over the Top’
Israeli forces called for widespread evacuations in the northern parts of the Gaza Strip before their initial ground assault there, and many Gazans have subsequently relocated to the southern side of the strip. As the Israeli military has moved its operations south, President Joe Biden’s administration has raised concerns civilians are running out of places to go amid struggles to get over to the Egyptian side of the border.
The Egyptian government has been reluctant to accept refugees fleeing the Gaza Strip, with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi arguing this fall that Israel’s military operations since Oct. 7 appear to be an effort to compel the Palestinian population of the Gaza Strip to migrate entirely out of Israel and undermine their claim to a Palestinian state.
“Egypt rejects any attempt to resolve the Palestinian issue by military means or through the forced displacement of Palestinians from their land,” the Egyptian president said in October.
The Egyptian president had called for the Israeli side to take in the Gazan civilians until “the militants are dealt with.”
When asked whether the Biden administration would favor an Israeli military assault on Rafah, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said, “We would not support the undertaking of something like this without serious and credible planning as it relates to the more than a million people who are sheltering there, as well as without considering the impacts on humanitarian assistance and the safe departure of foreign nationals as well.” Mr. Patel said the United States has not seen evidence of serious planning for how Israeli forces will handle an assault in Rafah.
“To do any kind of such thing right now with no planning and little thought in an area where more than a million people are sheltering, an area that is a key conduit for humanitarian aid entering Gaza, a key conduit for the safe departure of foreign nationals, that would be a disaster,” Mr. Patel continued. “It’s not something that we would support, and [Secretary of State Antony Blinken] made that clear to [Mr. Netanyahu].”
Bibi is down in the polls but 60 percent of Israelis want the war to continue so his path forward politically is obvious:
“On to Rafah and the Egyptian border”
Evacuate them ... to Egypt!
Ya mean the Mexican border according to Biden
Biden is gonna talk to Yassar Arafat after the Superbore.
“President Sisi will keep those tacos and tequilas from getting to the Hamas hombres in Gaza”
Another Biden sell-out of an ally. Blinked is keeping his betrayal record intact. Never let an opportunity to betray an ally go to waste.
Killing them where they stand is an Evacuation of sorts.
Jill Biden will be happy about the Egyptian breakfast tacos.
Excellent!!!
Egypt’s pretensions are just to divert focus away from Egypt’s complicity in deploying and arming these Fakestinians on Israeli soil in the first place. And of course to keep them there so they can attack again. And again.
I say it’s time Egypt took its people back and stopped using them as “fighting pawns” to waste their lives and die trying to murder innocent Jews and Christians. Enough is enough, already.
The US government always steps in to hold Israel back and save the terrorists from total annihilation.
Republican and democrat presidents, it make no difference - they all do it.
It has already begun this time with Joe Biden stating that the Israeli response to the HAMAS slaughter is “over the top”.
Run them all into Sinai , bulldoze all of Gaza and turn it back into ALL AG land
Easy plan if concerned about Fazan civilians. Hamas must surrender, and disarm, unconditionally. Ban Sharia law.
Non-military people can then get back to making great bread, grape leaves, hummus, poetry, grow lemons, use time for productive purposes and rejoin humanity.
Billions to be made by some, keeping the forever war going.
They will have their way. Amazing how many politician pawns can be had by spreading a few billion around here and there.
Hmm, didn’t someone warn us long ago to shun foreign entanglements. Oh yeah, we celebrate him (partly)
a week from tomorrow. Bet that quote won’t come up on CNN, MSNBC, NPR, NYT, WAPO, etc.
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Friday that he has ordered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to develop a plan to evacuate the population of the Gaza Strip city of Rafah, to make way for a military assault targeting elements of the Hamas terrorist group there.”
Israel needs to partner with Egypt and have Egypt carve out land in Sinai for a Palestinian state. Defensible borders, access to shipping for commerce and demilitarized for a period of 10 years. Make the entire Palestinian state a project in Green construction, where no materials containing petroleum will be used and everything will run on alternative energy sources.
Show the world how living in a green society benefits everyone. Move the UN there and in their first meeting, accept the new Palestinian state as a new member of the UN. Bring in all the media to witness this amazing transformation.
And the day this happens, nuke it from space just to be certain.
... As of Friday, the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry had estimated nearly 28,000 Gazans had been killed in the ongoing fighting in the strip.
The disparity in those number is not as great as I'd have expected.
Yep. Leave no 2 stones unturned. Turn it into a camels paradise.
Perpetual war is good for bu$iness.
Ask any defense contractor.
As much as I hate to say it, the only way to fix the problem is to level all of Gaza, and I mean all of it, find all those tunnels and either fill them in or collapse them, then scrap off what remains into the sea and give the land back to Israel. Then ship whoever is left to one of the neighboring islam loving nations. No more Hamas, no more Gazans, all Israel.
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