The military and strategic expert, Colonel Hatem Karim Al-Falahi, said that the heavy losses suffered by the Israeli army in the operation carried out by the Al-Qassam Brigades – the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) – east of Rafah confirm the existence of a faltering situation in the Israeli military operation in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.
Today, Saturday, the occupation army received a painful blow at the hands of the Al-Qassam Brigades, which, according to what it said, killed 15 Israeli soldiers after a group of its fighters stormed a house in which a large number of soldiers were barricaded and clashed with them from point-blank range with machine guns and grenades, before detonating an anti-personnel device. In the Al-Tanour neighborhood, east of Rafah.
Colonel Al-Falahi stated – in an analysis of the military scene in Gaza – that the area into which the occupation army penetrated from the eastern border towards Rafah all the way to the crossing does not exceed 3 kilometers, which means that its military operation is still slow, indicating that an incursion into this area is possible. Because it is a semi-agricultural area, the population density is very low.
According to Colonel Al-Falahi, the occupation army faced strong resistance from Palestinian faction fighters when it attempted to penetrate from Salah al-Din Street towards Rafah.
He explained that the Israeli force participating in the ongoing operation in Rafah is the 162nd Division, with two brigades and a third brigade added to them. These forces are very few compared to the forces that participated in previous battles.
The Israeli army advanced about a week ago from the east towards Rafah, and since that time, it has also taken control of the Palestinian side of the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
The ongoing Israeli military operation in the Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip is also faltering, as the occupation army extensively uses artillery and air strikes due to the ferocity of the battles between it and Palestinian resistance fighters, and is trying to destroy the area to facilitate its advance, as Colonel Al-Falahi said.
On the other hand, the military and strategic expert stressed the importance of the operation carried out by the Al-Qassam Brigades against the occupation forces east of Rafah, stressing that it caused great losses to these forces.
It is noteworthy that the Al-Qassam Brigades also announced that they bombed the occupation forces inside the Rafah land crossing with mortar shells, targeting an Israeli Merkava tank with an “Al-Yassin 105” shell in the Al-Tanour neighborhood, east of Rafah, amid continuing battles and fierce clashes east of the city.