Palestinians Cling to Life in Rafah, a Town Likely to Be Israel's Next Focus in the War on Hamas

Destroyed buildings stand along a rubble-strewn street, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Gaza, in this still image taken from video released February 15, 2024. UNRWA/Handout via REUTERS
Destroyed buildings stand along a rubble-strewn street, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Gaza, in this still image taken from video released February 15, 2024. UNRWA/Handout via REUTERS
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Palestinians Cling to Life in Rafah, a Town Likely to Be Israel's Next Focus in the War on Hamas

Destroyed buildings stand along a rubble-strewn street, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Gaza, in this still image taken from video released February 15, 2024. UNRWA/Handout via REUTERS
Destroyed buildings stand along a rubble-strewn street, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Gaza, in this still image taken from video released February 15, 2024. UNRWA/Handout via REUTERS

In the narrow crevices between the tents that crowd nearly every inch of the southern Gaza town of Rafah, Palestinians cling to life amid the grinding war with Israel.
A barefoot boy wears a pot on his head and beams a smile. A child lugs a jerry can half his size full of water. Men sit at half-empty tables selling canned goods. A tapestry of laundry hangs from every line, The Associated Press said.
The world’s gaze is on Rafah, the once-sleepy town along the Egyptian border that is likely Israel’s next focus in its fight against Hamas.
Rafah has swelled in size in recent weeks. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have splayed out across the town in tents or at the homes of friends or relatives. The estimated 1.5 million people sheltering there — more than half of Gaza’s population — have nowhere to flee in the face of an offensive that has leveled large swaths of the urban landscape in the rest of the territory.
UN officials warn that an attack on Rafah will be catastrophic, with more than 600,000 children in the path of an assault. A move on the town and surrounding area also could cause the collapse of the humanitarian aid system struggling to keep Gaza’s population alive. Israel’s Western allies have also expressed concern.
Israel says it must take Rafah to ensure Hamas’ destruction and to free hostages held by the group.
Food, like everywhere in the Gaza Strip, is scarce. Throngs of people crowd around a bakery, hoping for a few pitas to feed their families. Others bake their own in mud stoves with whatever flour they could get. One child, seated on an older child’s shoulders, reveled in the first bite of the fluffy bread.
The streets with no tents are packed with crowds of Palestinians hustling to sustain their families.
The mundane drumbeat of life continues in some places. A boy gets a haircut. A girl dons an oversized sheer pink floral dress. Women and a child avoid a large puddle near a mass of tents.
And in a surreal snapshot of joy, children spin around on a makeshift, manually operated Ferris wheel, turning and turning as the war — now in its fifth month — rolls on.



1,000 Israeli Soldiers Protest to End War in Gaza

Israeli army soldiers take position during a military operation in the West Bank (AFP)   
Israeli army soldiers take position during a military operation in the West Bank (AFP)   
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1,000 Israeli Soldiers Protest to End War in Gaza

Israeli army soldiers take position during a military operation in the West Bank (AFP)   
Israeli army soldiers take position during a military operation in the West Bank (AFP)   

An Israeli military official said on Thursday that some 1,000 reserve and retired pilots who signed a petition calling for securing the return of captives from Gaza at the cost of ending the war, would be dismissed from the air force.

“With the full backing of the chief of the General Staff, the commander of the Israeli Airforce has decided that any active reservist who signed the letter will not be able to continue serving in the Israeli military,” the official told AFP.

Nearly 1,000 Israeli retired and reservist fighter pilots called in an open letter on Thursday for the government to prioritize freeing the remaining hostages held in Gaza, even if that meant halting the war against Hamas.

According to the Israeli Yediot Ahronoth newspaper, the pilots’ letter read, “At this time, the war serves primarily political and personal interests, not security ones.”

It added, “Continuation of the war doesn’t advance any of the declared goals of the war, and will bring about the deaths of the hostages, of Israeli soldiers and innocent civilians, while further eroding the strength of the reserve forces.”

The newspaper said prior to that, several fighters met with Israeli Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar and Israeli army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir to prevent the letter’s publication.

Bar, backed by Zamir, then decided that active reserve service members who signed the letter cannot continue to serve, although they claim that this is a protest against the government and not against the army.

Responding to the letter, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz slammed the reservists who signed it, saying: “I strongly reject the letter by the Air Force reservists and the attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the just war that the Israeli army is leading in Gaza for the return of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas.”

He added, “I trust the judgment of the chief of staff and the Air Force commander and am convinced that they will handle this unacceptable phenomenon in the most appropriate way.”

Last March, two Israeli soldiers, including an army intelligence officer and a pilot, were dismissed after they refused to serve in protest of the renewal of fighting in Gaza.

According to Israeli reports, those incidents were seen by the Israeli army as isolated cases, but a number of senior officials were reportedly concerned that refusal to serve could become a larger phenomenon among reservists.

The two soldiers, Air force combat navigator Alon Gur and military intelligence officer, Mikhael Mayer, said in social media posts that their decision to refuse to participate in the ongoing military operations in Gaza is in protest to the Israeli government’s policies. Their statements had sparked debate and highlighted internal tensions within the Israeli armed forces.

The history of Israeli warfare suggests that large-scale insurgencies at the army began with individual cases.

During the first Lebanon war in 1982, Eli Geva, an Israeli brigade commander had refused to lead his forces into Beirut for moral reasons which he termed “endangerment of both soldiers and civilians in urban warfare.” Geva was therefore dismissed from the Army. He then founded the movement “There is a Limit” that raised the slogan of refusing to serve in occupied territories.