28 April 2024 , 19:08
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Heavy Israeli reinforcements are massing on Gaza’s southern border ahead of a ground attack on Rafah that could be hours away, writes Chris Hughes on Rafah border.
Merkava tanks, caged bulldozers and other armoured vehicles are pouring towards Israel’s proposed entry point into southern Gaza. Two battalions of elite Israeli paratroopers are believed to be preparing for the invasion, followed by a large number of regular forces.
The Daily Mirror witnessed the huge troop build-up as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted the attack will go ahead – despite warnings it could lead to a civilian bloodbath from the UK, US, UN and Middle Eastern countries. Weeks ago, when Netanyahu’s plans emerged, Labour leader Keir Starmer insisted that Rafah, where more than a million people are trapped, “cannot become a new theatre of war”.
Protesters hold placards and wave national flags during an anti-government demonstration in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv (AFP via Getty Images)Foreign Secretary David Cameron, who met with Netanyahu recently, said a few days ago there should be a plan in place to protect civilian life. The US has taken a similar stance. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has asked for help to avert what he called the biggest catastrophe in the Palestinian people’s history. He said yesterday: “We call on the United States of America to ask Israel to not carry on the Rafah attack.”
But the plan is well advanced. Israel’s crack Para battalions the 101st Cobra and 890th Echis (Viper) were withdrawn from southern Gaza some time ago to make ready for the Rafah operation.
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As we witnessed more tanks and other armoured vehicles arriving close to the border between Israel and Gaza’s Rafah Governate, a soldier warned us: “Leave the area. This is a closed military zone. Do not come back.” With the Jewish festival of Passover ending tonight, it is believed the operation is days or even hours away.
Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip, under attacks, hold a press conference and event in the courtyard of a school turned into a shelter in the city of Rafah (Anadolu via Getty Images)In the past week we have heard the near-constant booms of explosions. White smoke wafts across the Strip’s battered buildings, smashed household items lying like litter. And at the weekend Israeli forces stepped up their air strikes on Rafah, killing six on Saturday, taking the Palestinian death toll according to Gaza’s health workers to 34,388. More than 75,000 locals have been injured, say Gazan officials.
It is possible between 1,000 and 2,000 Hamas gunmen are hiding beneath Rafah and among its civilian population. More than half of the territory’s 2.3 million people have sought refuge in Rafah. This threatened community, by the border with Egypt, is the only city in Gaza the IDF has not yet entered.
Israel says its ground offensive is intended to target Hamas’s remaining four battalions and search for hostages taken in the October 7 massacre, which sparked the war. Yesterday Israelis in Tel Aviv protested en masse, calling for the hostages to be rescued from Hamas, increasing pressure on Mr Netanyahu to go ahead with the operation.
And Israel is taking damage too. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad rockets have hit Sderot, near northern Gaza, several times this week.Yesterday Hezbollah stepped up its shelling of northern Israel’s border towns, from where 80,000 Israelis have evacuated, firing 26 rockets. Shelling along the Israel-Lebanon border has repeatedly threatened to explode into all-out war, with Israel targeting Hezbollah chiefs.
Israeli armour pours towards Gaza ahead of the Rafah operation (Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)It is also believed an attack on Rafah could spark a wider retaliation from Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies, including Yemeni Houthis and militant groups in Iraq and Syria. In Israel the cross-border fighting has killed 10 civilians and 12 soldiers. In Lebanon, more than 350 people have been killed, including 50 civilians and 271 Hezbollah members. But amid the violence, and even as the tanks line up near Rafah, frantic ceasefire negotiations go on. Hamas is debating an Israeli offering brokered by Egypt, the detail of which is not known. A Hamas delegation heads to Cairo today.
The latest proposal from Hamas includes offering one kidnapped IDF soldier for 50 released Palestinian prisoners, and/or a hostage pensioner for 30 inmates. It is a climb-down from the 500 prisoners per seized soldier and 250 for an hostage Hamas is thought to have wanted.
Tanks ready for battle close to the Gaza boarder (Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)Yesterday Qatar, which has until recently played a key role in negotiations and which hosts the Hamas political leadership, said talks had suffered from a lack of “seriousness” from both sides. But Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said: “If there is a renewed sense of commitment on both sides, I’m sure we can reach a deal.”
Days ago US contractors began work on a floating dock and causeway on Gaza’s coastline, to bring in aid. It is hoped 150 vehicles carrying two million meals will use it to enter Gaza daily, easing the desperate food shortage. The project is expected to take two weeks but its future is in doubt as several mortars were fired at it last week.
It’s still too early to think positive
Israeli soldier Shelley Zisman, 22, who works as a search and rescue officer, holds her MI6 assault rifle while paying her respects at the festival site (Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)Mourners still flock to the Nova festival site where some of the worst October 7 atrocities happened. An eerie silence prevails over the site in Re’im where 360 festival goers were slaughtered and 44 taken hostage as Hamas gunmen rampaged through what had been a joyful event.
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The bullet-peppered cars have all been taken away, the blood washed into the ground and the detritus has been cleared away. But you can feel the sadness in the air at this place, a shrine to those who died and are still fighting for survival inside Gaza as hostages.
Soldier Shelley Zisman, 22, told us she came from Jerusalem to be here because: “I had to see this place.” Holding her M16 rifle as all off-duty Israel soldiers are required to do, Shelley, right, told us she works in search and rescue. Surrounded by Israeli flags, posters of the fallen and ordinary Israelis, she said: “It is too early to see something positive coming in the future.
“I just don’t have any thoughts about something good happening to us all very soon. I am still trying to get by day by day and positive thoughts are for the future.”
Shelley added: “I have a friend whose brother was in the army and he was killed before October 7 and he was in a combat unit. On October 7 I was not there but seven of my soldiers I knew died in the attack and that is a lot to deal with. People need support. We have to do whatever it takes to have a future but I cannot say I have the answer.”
Right-wing extremists try to settle in Strip even as the war rages on
Right-wing extremist Israelis are trying to settle in northern Gaza after sneaking through military lines. They want to rebuild settler homes in the Strip even as war rages across it – and are also trying to stop humanitarian aid getting through.
Hardliner Yosef de Brasser, 23, is among the would-be Gaza settlers. The right-wing activist has organised demonstrations against fuel and food for Palestinians and has been arrested nine times. On Thursday, after some settler activists broke through a fence and were ejected by troops, de Brasser said: “The ultimate goal is to settle all of Gaza.
“Settlements will be established in the Gaza Strip no matter what. It doesn’t matter if they kick us out.” Yishai Ganot, 24, from Jerusalem, added: “No one takes us very seriously right now, but we are here day after day operating discreetly. As soon as war ends, we will return to... the entire northern Gaza Strip.”