Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that the battle in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, “will decide many matters.” The Israeli Defense Minister stated that more forces had been sent to Rafah, while the US State Department considered that such an operation would be a mistake.

While attending a military air show near an area close to the Gaza Strip today, Netanyahu said, “The battle in Rafah will decide many matters, not only the rest of their brigades, but also their tunnels for escape and other supplies.”

For his part, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said that more forces will be sent to the ground operation in Rafah.

He added, in a speech from the border with Gaza, that the army destroyed a number of tunnels in the region, and that the resources of the Hamas movement were being closed successively, according to him.

Netanyahu and members of his government have been threatening for months to launch an attack on Rafah, considering it necessary to achieve the goal of “eliminating” the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), despite international warnings, including the American ones, which were warning of the consequences of this attack on the lives of civilians.

The United States shows its opposition to a “broad” Israeli military operation in Rafah, under the pretext of protecting civilians there, but it continues to support Tel Aviv in its devastating war on the Gaza Strip, even though the largest percentage of casualties are civilians, including Rafah itself.

Early this month, the Israeli occupation forces took control of the Rafah crossing, which connects the Gaza Strip with Egypt. According to the United Nations, about 630,000 people have fled Rafah since the beginning of the Israeli attack on the city.