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How Israel Is Clearing Hamas Out of Rafah

(Spectator-UK) Maj. (ret.) Andrew Fox - I'm in Rafah as a civilian guest of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The IDF has destroyed 200 tunnel entry shafts in Rafah alone. Each one led to a mosque, a school, or a person's home. To destroy the tunnel system, there is inevitable damage to the buildings under which the tunnels run and to which they are connected. Homes in Gaza are almost all booby-trapped. The IDF now enters houses first with drones, then with dogs. When a house is seemingly clear, they enter only in four-man squads to minimize casualties if a bomb goes off. Hamas has cameras in these homes, with cables running into the tunnels. They wait for troops to enter, then detonate an IED. Hamas has turned the whole place into one giant booby trap. But why go into Rafah at all? Simply because the aim is to destroy Hamas. Their capability hinges on the supply tunnels from Rafah into Egypt, some of which run 2 km. beyond the Egyptian border. The IDF has incurred significant casualties in this war. In one division, 4,039 have been injured, with 2,904 returning to combat afterwards. 2,831 vehicles have needed some level of repair due to enemy damage. Every single repaired vehicle has made it back to the front line. Hamas has only succeeded in destroying two tanks and two armored personnel carriers in nine months. In Rafah, the IDF estimates the total number of civilians killed is fewer than 100. The place is empty. Civilians heed the IDF's warnings and flee to the humanitarian zones when they are told to do so. The writer, who served in the British Army from 2005-21, is a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society and a lecturer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
2024-08-22 00:00:00
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