Friday 26 April 2024

The attack on the Gaza town of Rafah appears imminent

It has always been the case in modern times that where the television cameras are, that's where the news will be. And moe often than not, the TV cameras can't be everywhere in the world at the same time, so a lot of bad stuff gets unreported while the cameras are concentrated elsewhere. For example, the civil war in Sudan has been going on for a year between the Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces but we know little of what is going on. There are too many other conflicts for the TV crews to cover. In the same way, the war in Gaza was almost put to one side when Iran and Israel attacked each other. That became the headline news. What went on in Gaza while the world was focusing on the terrifying possibility of an outright war between Israel and Iran was lost in translation. Now Gaza is back in the news big time, with the desperately tragic reports of the Palestinian baby pulled from its dead mother's womb following an Israeli air strike. And the attack on the town of Rafah in the south by the Israel Defence Forces is imminent. Perhaps even next week. One hopes that the IDF will have such strict rules of engagement that Rafah will not be reduced to a pile of concrete rubble. However, after more than six months it is one of the most extraordinary facts that the main leaders of Hamas are still alive and hiding in an underground tunnel or bunker and are still able to mastermind retaliatory strikes against the IDF. AND that more than 100 Israeli hostages are still being held, despite all the firepower and combat experience the IDF has at its disposal and the ingenuity and skills of Mossad and other secretive special agencies. Rafah is truly going to be a momentous battle, and the TV cameras will be watching.

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