Hebrew media revealed, on Tuesday, that the Israeli army will announce within days the “defeat” of the Hamas brigade in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, which means “the transition to the third phase of the war,” after the first was bombing from outside the Strip and the second was a ground incursion into it.

Despite international warnings about the repercussions of the operation in Rafah, Israel announced on May 6 that it had begun attacking the city, sparking a wave of anger, Arab and international condemnations, and fears of massacres in the city, which was crowded with displaced people.

Israeli Army Radio said: “The army’s assessment is that it will be possible within a few days to announce the defeat of the Rafah Brigade, and in fact to finally complete the intense phase of the ground maneuver throughout the Strip.”

It continued: "This means that the Israeli army will turn completely to raids in the entire Gaza Strip, and the security establishment estimates that even in the third phase (of the war), we will be asked to leave two divisions in Gaza to continue carrying out repeated raids."

In recent weeks, Israeli media have indicated that the third phase of the war means moving from intensive bombing of the Gaza Strip to targeted bombing based on intelligence information.

The radio claimed that "the 162nd Division of the Israeli army killed 750 Palestinian militants since the beginning of its operation in Rafah."

It said: "The Israeli army estimates that thousands of militants fled from Rafah. Only about a quarter of the militants who were in Rafah before the operation remained in the field to fight against the Israeli army, while the rest fled."

In this context, she stated that the army was unable to eliminate the Tal al-Sultan and al-Shaboura brigades of the Hamas movement in Rafah.

Despite its talk about ending the military operation in Rafah soon, the radio indicated that the army “will remain for several months in the Philadelphia axis area on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.”

Army Radio said: "The operation that will not end soon in Rafah is the destruction of smuggling tunnels on the Philadelphia axis."

It added: "Even after the forces leave Rafah, there is an intention for the forces to remain in the Philadelphia axis and continue to hold it until further notice."

It added: "The Israeli army estimates that it will take several more months until the smuggling tunnels to Egypt are fully uncovered and destroyed."