Monday, 8 April 2024

Khan Younis has been destroyed, what now for Rafah?

Much has been made about the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Gaza but I think it's pretty clear this is a tactical and psychological, and temporary, withdrawal. Tactical, because the Israel Defence Forces'(IDF) mission in the southern town of Khan Younis has been completed - it's destroyed - psychological, because the pull-out has been timed to coincide with renewed ceasefire/hostage-release talks starting in Cairo, and temporary, because most of the withdrawn troops will be needed back in Gaza once the go ahead is given for the assault on Rafah, the last bastion of Hamas leaders. As John Kirby, the head of strategic communications in the White House, has said, the Israeli troops have left southern Gaza for "rest and refit". So they will be back. Meanwhile, the pictures coming out of Khan Younis reveal a town hammered to the ground. There seems to be almost nothing left unscathed. Palestinians returning to the town after sheltering in Rafah for months are discovering they have no homes to live in. They might as well have stayed in their tents in Rafah. I wonder how many of these poor families are thinking to themselves: if Hamas had not committed that gross act of brutality, murder, rape and kidnapping on October 7, none of this would have happened; or do they just hate the Israelis for destroying their homes? Either way, their lives have changed for ever, and the majority of Palestinians who have stayed in Rafah must be fearful of what is going to happen next. Israel has said it will move the more than one million civilians away from Rafah before they attack the town but where are they going to go? Where will they be safe? Israel has aready come under worldwide criticism for the number of civilians killed in the six-month war, so it will be their responsibility to ensure that a safe zone is found and protected from airstrikes. But I suspect Rafah itself will then be destroyed, just like Khan Younis and Gaza City have been destroyed.

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