He Israel War Cabinet met this Thursday to agree on the steps to follow in the face of the expected land invasion of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip. While the closed-door discussion was taking place, the army mobilized dozens of tanks in the area bordering the Palestinian enclave.
During a press conference, government spokesman David Mencer confirmed: “The War Cabinet is meeting right now to discuss how to destroy the last vestiges” of Hamas in Rafah, but he did not want to specify any time frame for an invasion that seems closer.
The Israeli army has concentrated around thirty tanks and armored vehicles along the border with southern Gaza, as confirmed by an EFE photographer. Some of them were transported by trucks today, in what could be preparations for the taking of Rafah.
According to Wala, an Israeli media outlet, the cabinet meeting also discussed the issue of 133 hostages that are still found in the Strip, and the evolution of the ceasefire talks in the enclave after more than 200 days of offensive. The Israeli authorities maintain that in that southern town, bordering Egypt and where they take refuge 1.4 million Gazansthere are still four Hamas battalions.
Since the beginning of this heartbreaking war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that the invasion of Rafah is necessary to eliminate Hamas, and to ensure that Gaza ceases to constitute a “threat” for Israel. While much of the international community, including its main military ally the United States, opposes the Israeli military management in Rafah, where many civilians were feared to be at risk of being killed.
Since the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza began on October 7, the death toll has now reached 34,305. 75% of them were women and children. Besides, 77,293 People have been injured during the offensive, according to the Hamas Government’s Gaza Health Ministry.
Last night, the journalist was added to the list of deceased Mohamed Basam al Yamal, from the news agency Falestin Alan (Palestine Now). It happened in an Israeli bombing against his housing in Rafah, his brother Mahmud confirmed to EFE. Along with him, seven other people perished, local sources confirmed.
Al Yamal’s brother, also a journalist, said that one of his nieces also died in the attack, in addition to other people who had fled Khan Younis and were taking refuge in the family home. “(This place) was supposed to be safe and the occupation bombed it. Most of the dead are children. This is the occupation”the man declared.
According to the Gazan authorities, with the death of Al Yamal, the number of journalists who have lost their lives during the war in Gaza now rises to 141.
In Gaza, the Strip’s civil defense rescue teams announced they had recovered 392 corpses of various common pits at the Naser hospital in Khan Yunis, in the south of the enclave, according to the Civil Defense. The authorities organized a press conference this Thursday to share the latest data on the exhumations, in which they said that the majority of the bodies have not yet been identified. Furthermore, among the bodies there would be twenty with signs of having been buried alive.
In his first reaction to news of the first mass grave discovered in Khan Younis last Friday, a military spokesman, Nadav Shoshani, said on Wednesday that the grave in question had been dug by Gazan citizens a month ago, and that Israel was not involved.
“Any attempt to blame Israel for burying civilians in mass graves is categorically false and a mere example of a disinformation campaign aimed at delegitimizing Israel,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The Israeli Army has admitted to having examined bodies buried in the courtyards of the Naser hospital in search of possible dead Israeli hostages. During the Israeli siege of this hospital, medical staff and patients were forced to bury some of the deceased in the courtyards, unable to leave the facility for fear of Israeli artillery.
(With information from EFE)
