Al-Duwairi: The beginnings of the Rafah battle have begun, and these are its features, and its title will be the massacres

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The White House said that US President Joe Biden stressed during his call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the military operation in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip should not take place without a reliable and implementable plan, stressing the necessity of having a plan to ensure the safety and support of more than a million people who have taken refuge in Rafah.

In this context, military and strategic expert Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi saw Biden’s talk about Rafah as a green light for Netanyahu to move forward, but it is an implicit approval conditional on taking precautionary measures.

Al-Duwairi added - during his analysis to Al Jazeera - that Biden and Netanyahu are both lying to each other, and both are lying to the world, “so it is not possible to carry out a military operation in Rafah without committing bloody massacres.”

He pointed out that there are 27,000 Palestinians per square kilometer in Rafah, confirming that any military operation will be remembered in history because of the massacres that will occur in the region because it is crowded with people (1.4 million people).

Form of the Battle of Rafah

Regarding his expectations of the expected form of the Israeli invasion of Rafah, Al-Duwairi stated that the nature of the military approach will begin from the eastern and northern sides “to push human masses to flee,” noting that the old Rafah camps constitute defensive nodes for the resistance.

He warned that there were preludes to the battle that had begun, as the occupation army intensified its aerial bombardments on Rafah in an attempt to pressure the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to agree to the Paris Framework Agreement on a possible deal.

He stressed that the Egyptian and American positions are important to curb the right-wing Israeli government. “Cairo has borders with the Gaza Strip and what is happening affects Egyptian dignity and sovereignty, while Washington has been responsible for providing Tel Aviv with a military bridge since the beginning of the war.”

Battle of Khan Yunis

As for the Battle of Khan Yunis, the military expert says that months have passed since the beginning of the Israeli incursion, and the battle is still blurry and the lines of contact have changed in favor of the resistance, not the occupation.

He pointed out that the occupation army's combat plan appeared to be confusing, such as reducing the number of combat brigades in Khan Yunis from 8 to 5 brigades, citing statements by Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, who said that the battle in the city was long-term, in contradiction to previous statements.

He pointed out that the occupation army did not have a clear vision, “and we witnessed successive failures after there was a double attack from the east and a encirclement from the west, but it faltered,” forcing it to adjust its operations in place, time, and direction.

Regarding the nature of the goals achieved by the occupation, Al-Duwairi stressed that they are limited achievements and their size is exaggerated, as the extent of the damage to the resistance factions did not exceed 15%, while the American administration said that the damage did not exceed a third.

Source: Al Jazeera