July 17, 2024
The southern Gaza city of Rafah sits strategically along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. In May, after months of deliberations and international concerns about the humanitarian impact, Israel launched a limited and phased operation to dismantle the remaining Hamas terror battalions in the city. At the time, some 1.4 million Palestinians resided in the city, with over a million Palestinians evacuating there since Israel launched its war to defend itself following the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023.
Here is what to know about the strategic importance of Rafah, Israel’s operation, and the future of the Israel-Hamas war.
The Latest Updates:
Where it stands: In late June, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel’s operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah is nearing its conclusion, with the remaining four Hamas battalions there having been dismantled.
"The intense phase of the fighting against Hamas is about to end," he said. "It doesn't mean that the war is about to end, but the war in its intense phase is about to end in Rafah."
What Israel exposed: Dozens of Hamas tunnels have been found in Rafah and on the border between Gaza and Egypt, known as the Philadelphi Corridor. Israeli forces uncovered two types of tunnels in the city. The first type was a smuggling tunnel from Gaza to Egypt and vice versa. These tunnels were used to smuggle arms, parts for arms factories, other terror means, and also civilian items. The second type of tunnel that was uncovered was the kind that connects to other tunnels in various areas in Gaza, used for storing weapons, command centers for Hamas, and the movement of terrorists from one area to another.
What's next: Currently, key issues remain unresolved about the reopening of the Rafah crossing on the Egypt-Gaza border and securing the Philadelpi Corridor to prevent Hamas from using smuggling to rearm itself with rockets and weapons to attack and murder Israelis. Netanyahu has made the security of the border region a core issue in ceasefire talks. Senior Israeli and U.S. officials have been in negotiations with their counterparts in Egypt over border security arrangements.
What is the U.S. saying: Amid the Rafah operation, U.S. officials said that Israel had “incorporated” many of the concerns the Biden administration has expressed.
On July 8, U.S. State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller said that based on U.S. assessments, the Rafah operation saw a decrease in destruction and civilian casualties.
“The casualty number has come down dramatically over the past few months,” Miller said, adding that no level of civilian casualties is acceptable.
“But the operation has just, in terms of the results, looked different than the operations in Gaza City and Khan Younis,” he said.
Why did Israel launch its operation in Rafah?
To return the hostages kidnapped on 10/7, prevent Hamas from carrying out another 10/7-style massacre of Israelis, shut down the illegal weapons and people smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt, end the Iran-backed terror group’s influence over Gaza, and put pressure on Hamas to agree to a deal that will release Israeli hostages.
Every country has a moral obligation to not only protect the safety and security of its citizens but to rescue those taken hostage. Many Israeli analysts believe that pressuring Hamas in Rafah could force the terror organization to get serious about negotiating with Israel and releasing its prisoners. In February, Israel carried out a successful and dramatic rescue operation in Rafah that freed two hostages, Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Luis Har, 70, who were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on October 7.
In addition, Rafah was the last remaining stronghold for Hamas’ military battalions and its leadership. Defeating Hamas’ remaining battalions in Gaza is needed to ensure that the Iran-backed terror group no longer has the ability to murder Israelis. Hamas, which calls for Israel’s destruction in its charter, has repeatedly promised to carry out more 10/7-style massacres against Israel. Hamas could easily use Rafah as a base to reassert control over the entire Gaza Strip if the war were to end prematurely.
A campaign in Rafah is also essential to eliminate Hamas’ and other terrorist groups' underground network of smuggling tunnels between Egypt and Gaza. Shortly after Hamas gained control of the Gaza Strip, throwing out the Palestinian Authority in a bloody coup in 2007, a “tunnel industry” began to thrive under the border between Gaza and Egypt. Hamas has operated most of these tunnels, collecting tolls and trafficking explosives, guns, rockets, and drones. Terrorists also have used the tunnels to go to and from Gaza in order to train in Iran and other countries.
Egypt has previously worked to destroy the tunnels, but smuggling remains a concern. Ridding the area of Hamas and destroying the tunnels once and for all is an Israeli security priority.
What steps did Israel take to protect civilians in Rafah?
While Israel goes to extraordinary lengths to keep Palestinian civilians out of harm’s way (more on that below), Hamas specifically puts Palestinian civilians in danger. For example, in Rafah, IDF spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said that “Hamas built everything in a civilian neighborhood — among houses, among mosques, among the population — in order to create its terror ecosystem.” Time and again, Hamas uses Palestinians as human shields, purposely driving up the number of innocent Palestinians killed in the war while preserving the lives of the terrorist fighters.
“Israel has implemented more measures to prevent civilian casualties in urban warfare than any other military in the history of war. This includes many measures the U.S. has (or has not) taken in wars and battles but also many measures no military in the world has ever taken,” asserts John Spencer, Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, a research center dedicated to the study of war and warfare. Read more of Spencer’s expert analysis.
In Rafah, Israel again deployed extraordinary steps to ensure Gazans were not in harm’s way in Rafah. For instance, before Israel’s targeted operation in eastern Rafah neighborhoods, hundreds of thousands of leaflets, phone calls, text messages, and social media posts in Arabic were disseminated to ensure the approximately 100,000 Palestinian civilians in these areas were evacuated out of harm’s way to an expanded humanitarian zone in the al-Mawasi and Khan Younis areas of southern Gaza.
The IDF said that the expanded humanitarian zone includes field hospitals and tent camps for displaced Palestinians, while the IDF noted that “there has been a surge of humanitarian aid going into Gaza.”
What You Need to Know About Israel’s Humanitarian Aid To Gaza
Previously, IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said that moving the Palestinian civilians to designated areas, which would be done in coordination with international actors, was a key part of the IDF’s preparations for any Rafah operation.
Overall,
What have U.S. leaders said about Israel’s efforts in Rafah?
In the months leading up to the Rafah operation, U.S. government officials expressed concern about a full-scale ground operation in Rafah, reiterating that there needs to be a credible plan to safeguard Palestinian civilians.
In a CNN interview on May 8, President Biden delineated his “red line” when it comes to Israel and Rafah, saying “I made it clear that if they [the IDF] go into Rafah—they haven't gone in Rafah yet—if they go into Rafah, I'm not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, that deal with that problem,” referring to his decision last week to pause the delivery of a shipment of a specific type of munition to Israel. In the interview, President Biden clearly said that Israel’s limited and targeted operations in Rafah to date have not crossed his red line. President Biden also added, “We’re going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks that came out of the Middle East recently.”
Biden’s comments on possibly not supplying weapons set off a flurry of concern and criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and from AJC:
AJC CEO Ted Deutch said that Israel’s ability to defeat Hamas - which has long called for Israel’s destruction, which is enshrined in its charter and vowed to carry out additional 10/7-like massacres - should not be impaired.
“President Biden should not take steps that could impair Israel’s ability to prevent Hamas from attacking it again and again — as its leaders have promised,” he said. “The U.S. knows that defeating Hamas is critical to Israel’s long-term security and to defeating the global threat posed by the Iranian regime and its proxies.”
