Israel’s brutal killing of Palestinian civilians under the pretense of operations against Hamas has garnered global condemnation. Around 35,000 innocent Palestinians have been killed since October 7, 2023. More than 1.9 million Palestinians have been displaced as a result of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, with almost 1.4 million, including 600000 children, migrating towards Rafah on the instruction of the Israeli government.
The Rafah encampment had been the last hope for the displaced Gazans as it is the main crossing for humanitarian aid and is also the only city in Gaza with three partially operational hospitals. A huge city of tents has been established in Rafah to provide shelter to the displaced citizens. The government of Israel had long been planning its invasion of Rafah city under the pretext of eliminating the allegedly last four remaining battalions of Hamas, but the whole world, including the United States and other Israeli allies, is hostile to the idea.
Since the outbreak of the ongoing war, many analysts and observers have been suspicious about the actual ambitions of Israel behind its military operations in Gaza. Israeli government holds Hamas’ October 7 attacks responsible for these operations and says that it seeks to eliminate Hamas completely through these operations. However, the indiscriminate bombing of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) on civilians, hospitals, churches, mosques, welfare teams, and journalists posits that the country has some hidden motives behind this invasion.
Allegedly, Israel sought to occupy the gas and mineral resources of Gaza. Israel already issued permits to 6 companies to explore Gaza’s offshore natural gas reserves. In addition, the construction of the Ben Gurion Canal is also among the covert ambitions of the Israeli government behind these indiscriminate operations. Ben Gurion Canal holds immense significance for Israel as well as its Western allies as it will decrease their dependence on the Suez Canal and will help Israel generate significant revenue.
The proposed route of the canal circumvents Gaza and if the residents of the region are displaced and the area is flattened, the canal will cost significantly less than the proposed cost of the project. Furthermore, it will also help the Israeli government to govern the activities in and around the canal more efficiently and effectively if the native Palestinian population is removed from the region.
Israel is the 9th biggest arms dealer in the world, and Palestinian territory serves as the laboratory for the Israeli weapon industry. After committing brutalities on the Palestinian people, Israel declares its weapons to be battle-tested. This increases the demand for its arms and weapons. Another alarming fact is that Israel made its biggest arms sale ever to the Arab countries in 2022. Moreover, the European nations also increased their arms and missile purchases from Israel since the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
All these facts collectively provide the reason why Israel is adamant about ethnically cleansing the Gaza enclave by launching the invasion of Rafah. The United States and all other allies of the apartheid state are against the idea of the Rafah operation and apparently seek to re-establish the native people in Gaza. However, Netanyahu has other plans. Under his newly announced plan, the Israeli government will build a new settlement in Gaza and the IDF will control the security of the Gaza Strip for an indefinite period.
Allegedly, this settlement will be established to change the regional demography by establishing new Jewish communities in Gaza. The Rafah invasion is imperative for establishing this newly proposed settlement. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has already warned of the catastrophic results of the Gaza invasion. He also declared this invasion to be “a strategic mistake, a political calamity, and a humanitarian nightmare.”
The United States was the biggest impediment to the realization of Netanyahu’s ambition of invading Rafah. However, allegedly, the US covertly permitted the Israeli government to invade Gaza in exchange for a secret deal on not responding to Iran’s retaliatory attacks on Israel. Despite global warnings, growing criticism, and rising isolation, Israel launched an invasion of Rafah on the country’s Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Israel launched this operation despite the acceptance of a truce by Hamas. Israeli forces have seized the Rafah crossing, cutting off trade routes. The United Nations and other humanitarian aid organizations have condemned this move and have urged the Zionist government to halt this incursion. According to the UN, “The closure of both the Rafah and Kerem Shalom [Karem Abu Salem] crossings is especially damaging to an already dire humanitarian situation. They must be reopened immediately.”
However, it seems that the Israeli government intentionally wants to spark a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Otherwise, its regional and economic ambitions will not be rationalized. One thing that cannot be ignored is that the United States and other Western self-proclaimed champions of human rights are accomplices in all these war crimes of the Israeli government. Although the Rafah invasion would potentially result in significant civilian killings, it would also hasten the decline of the Western world order and strengthen Hamas’ support in the Middle Eastern region and the Muslim world.
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Mr Abdullah Nisar holds a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from International Islamic University Islamabad. He is currently working as a freelance journalist.