Gaza – Maan Report – After two weeks of battles in the city of Rafah, the occupation army is racing against time in an attempt to invade the city, especially in light of the lackluster American and European reactions that did not reach the level of condemnation.
The occupation tanks that entered the Rafah crossing in the first days of the battle are working to expand their deployment on the border strip between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, or what it calls the Philadelphia axis.
According to eyewitnesses, the occupation tanks crossed the Salah al-Din Gate, which is located three kilometers west of the gate, and reached the vicinity of the Yabna camp in central Rafah.
This rapid progress does not proceed at the same pace in residential neighborhoods such as the Brazil neighborhood, where tanks stop at the Halal market, while they do not go beyond the police headquarters on the outskirts of the El Geneina neighborhood and remain in the vicinity of Al-Najjar Hospital, one kilometer from the direction of Salah El
-Din Street.
Helicopters are trying to control the center of Rafah and shoot anyone who moves in the area.
Violent armed clashes are taking place with resistance men in the neighborhoods of Al-Salam, Al-Jeneina, Al-Barazil, and Al-Tanour neighborhood, with video clips published indicating their ability to inflict losses on the ranks of the occupation army.
The occupation army seeks at least to control the entire Veldivia axis and make it, along with the Rafah crossing, a new pressure card on the Hamas movement, which rejects any non-Palestinian presence at the crossing at a time when the Palestinian Authority has refused to take over the crossing without this being linked to a political project aimed at establishing a Palestinian state.
Egypt refuses to cooperate with Israel in the Rafah crossing issue, which remains postponed until the end of the Rafah battle.
For its part, the occupation army said that in the last two days, it had made significant progress in Rafah, advancing west towards the neighborh
oods of Shabura and Brazil, where the exchange of fire with the militants continued.
Against the backdrop of this progress, the International Court will hold its decision tomorrow in The Hague on the lawsuit filed by South Africa, which demanded a halt to the process.
In Rafah, officials in Israel made clear last week that even if the court issues a ceasefire order, there is no intention to respect it and that could lead to a discussion in the UN Security Council, where the United States would likely veto any resolution.
The assessment in Israel, according to Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, is that if there are orders calling for a cessation of hostilities, Israel will not abide by them.
Israel is preparing for more difficult scenarios, and there are those who prefer a more stringent ceasefire in the entire Gaza Strip and not just in Rafah, because there is a fear that the United States will not use its veto if the matter focuses on Rafah only.
Source: Maan News Agency
