Israel withdrew almost all its troops in Southern Gaza. Picture: Violeta Santos Moura /AFP
After six months of Israel’s brutal onslaught of Gaza, the state withdrew almost all its troops in the Southern region of the area. However, the war is still ongoing.
According to Novara Media, only one battalion remains in the strip. This brought short-lived hope that Israel had begun to cease its war; however, that is not the case.
“Israel has quashed any such hope saying this is merely giving its troops a rest before they out a renewed offensive on Rafah. In the meantime, thousands of Palestinians who had been sheltering in Rafah have returned to their homes in Khan Younis,” said Michael Walker of the news outlet.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has supposedly set the date for the invasion of Rafah.
“Today I received a detailed report on the talks in Cairo. We are constantly working to achieve our goals, first and foremost the release of all our hostages and achieving a complete victory over Hamas,” said Netanyahu on Monday.
“This victory requires entry into Rafah and the elimination of the terrorist battalions there. It will happen. There is a date.”
In a report by Al Jazeera, the survivors returned to see their houses unrecognisable and destroyed and the community with almost every family having a member of several who were killed.
The city which nearly 500,000 Palestinians used to call home was flattened by Israeli bombing.
“This is heartbreaking, it's unbelievable. We did not expect this scale of destruction. There is not a house without a martyr. Words cannot describe it,” a Khan Younis resident told Al Jazeera.
Another said he came to see the houses, but found that there were none, with everything in rubble. He added that not even animals can inhabit the city.
British-Israeli analyst Daniel Levv told Novara Media that he interpreted that the looming attack of Rafah could be even more deadlier. “This operation will be implemented. But, Israel does not have the troops to do it...Military, very little has been achieved by the Israeli military.”
IOL NEWS