5/17/2024–|Last updated: 5/17/202410:01 PM (Mecca time)
The Economist magazine said that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) has transferred part of its forces to other places in the Gaza Strip, but will leave a battalion in Rafah to harass the Israeli occupation army, pointing to a secret complaint that has continued for several months among army generals due to the absence of a plan by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin. Netanyahu for the day after the war.
In an article entitled “The Israeli army is stuck in a cycle of death in Gaza,” the magazine considered that there would be no tragic confrontation between Hamas and the Israeli army in Rafah, because like most guerrilla movements, it will work to avoid entering into a direct conflict with an enemy that is better equipped than it in terms of equipment and equipment.
The Economist said that supporters of the attack on Rafah – which began earlier this month – consider it necessary to eliminate the last stronghold of Hamas, while its skeptics fear that it will turn into a humanitarian tragedy, leading to the killing of thousands of Palestinians and the displacement of a million others.
The magazine talked about what it described as less severe drama regarding the battles in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood north of Gaza City, which began days after the fighting in Rafah. The Israeli army fought there last year at the beginning of the war, then returned in an attack that lasted two weeks last February, and now it has returned. For the third time, and it probably won’t be the last.
Exaggerated..
The Economist said that talk about the city of Rafah as a last refuge for Hamas is exaggerated, noting that after 8 months of war, Israel has no plan to prevent Hamas’ attempts to regain control over other parts of Gaza, and Netanyahu’s refusal to talk about post-war arrangements has led to A break with US President Joe Biden, and increasingly, with his army generals as well.
The Economist explained that strategic experts often talk about “a clear, constructive approach to combating insurgency by clearing an area of militants, holding on to gains, and building an alternative,” noting that Israel is only doing the first thing, and that, apart from the Netzarim Corridor, there was almost no presence of Israeli forces in the area. Gaza during the past two months, leaving a vacuum that Hamas inevitably tried to fill.
During this week, the differences in the Israeli government over the war came to light, after Defense Minister Yoav Galant asked Netanyahu to present a clear strategy with the army’s return to fighting in areas where it had announced months earlier that it had achieved its goals.
With the exception of his claim to dismantle 19 out of 24 Hamas battalions, and his pledge to return those detained by the resistance, Netanyahu did not specify any clear strategic goal to end the war that resulted in the martyrdom of more than 35,000 Palestinians and tens of thousands of wounded, missing, and displaced people.