The Israeli occupation military plans to conclude its operation in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, in the coming days, ending the ongoing war on Gaza in its current form, Israeli media reported.
Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly holding discussions with senior military leaders about ending the Rafah operation and dramatically altering the nature of the war on Gaza.
Israeli media indicated that this meant the military would be transitioning to a phase of concentrated and targeted raids accompanied by airstrikes.
This comes a week after Netanyahu said the Israeli military’s heavy fighting against Hamas in Rafah is nearly over.
“The intense phase of the fighting against Hamas is about to end,” Netanyahu said in an interview for the Israeli Channel 14.
However, he pointed out that this “doesn’t mean that the war is about to end, but the war in its intense phase is about to end in Rafah.”
Israeli media suggested that with the end of the Rafah operation, “Israel” will practically engage in negotiations for a settlement with Hezbollah in Lebanon under the mediation of the United States.
Meanwhile, a political affairs commentator on Channel 12 cited Israeli officials as saying that the war on Gaza is not over yet, but its current form is expected to change.
According to the commentator, the second phase of the war will focus on raids and aerial operations, meaning that the Israeli military will operate “wherever there is information about Hamas activities.”
Al-Shujaiya scenario to be repeated in Rafah
Yaron Avraham, another political affairs commentator on Channel 12, highlighted that this is the third time that the Israeli occupation tried to conduct an operation in the al-Shujaiya neighborhood, east of Gaza City, pointing out that Hamas has rebuilt its infrastructure and reorganized its civilian and authoritative structures and is distributing food, humanitarian aid, and medical supplies to civilians in the Strip.
Avraham claimed that the Israeli military entered the al-Shujaiya neighborhood for the third time to destroy sites not discovered in the first or second attempts, expecting the same scenario in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip.
On-ground correspondent in Gaza had reported that the Palestinian Resistance’s operations in the al-Shujaiya neighborhood refute the Israeli narrative, confirming that the al-Quds Brigades and al-Qassam Brigades continue to lure Israeli soldiers into ambushes there.
Ex-IOF general describes ops situation in Gaza as ‘Sisyphus complex’
Israeli military officials have underlined their dissatisfaction with the operations in the Gaza Strip, emphasizing that the Palestinian Resistance movement, Hamas, can regain its power.
Giora Eiland, a retired major general, told the Israeli Channel 13, “Something is frustrating in all these operations. This is like a Sisyphus complex that pushes a rock to the top of the mountain and then it rolls back down,” emphasizing that Hamas had the “ability to rise again.”
Eiland detailed how after Israeli occupation forces withdraw from a neighborhood, “they (Hamas’ fighters) resume their activity in that area anew.”
Another retired commander, Israel Ziv, the former chief of the military’s operations department, blasted the Israeli military’s conduct in Gaza, saying there was “no one major victory and there is still no military decisiveness.”
