WhatsappIDF launched a surprise ground assault last night on the Rafah, capturing the international border crossing between Gaza and Egypt by morning. Official and unofficial videos show the 401st Armored Brigade in full control of the Rafah crossing.
Israeli troops took down “palestinian” flags at the crossing and then raised the Israeli flag over the area for the first time in 19 years. Nearly 30 Hamas terrorists were eliminated in battles that raged throughout the night. Drones and airstrikes hit more than fifty targets throughout the night and the day. No IDF casualties were reported during the fighting.
The attack came as a surprise to both the Gazans and the Americans, who assumed the IDF was planning a massive ground invasion due to take place only after Rafah residents had been fully evacuated. It turns out the evacuation plans were part of a larger ruse to throw of both Hamas and the American government - both of whom had conspired to corner Israel into a disastrous hostage deal.
Tanks separated the crossing terminal from Gaza’s main North-South Road Salah A-Din Street, while Givati soldiers successfully captured Eastern Rafah.
The US was caught off guard by the operation and are beginning to blame Israel for the collapse of the hostage negotiations. The US State Department said the following:
“It is important to reopen the Rafah crossing as soon as possible because it is essential for the continuation of humanitarian aid operations.The launch of Israel’s attack on Rafah after Hamas had agreed to a cease-fire deal indicates that Israel did not act in good faith.”
For months the US has been trying to push Israel into accepting a hostage deal that would have literally given Hamas a victory, allowing them to rearm and retake the Gaza Strip. Israel has withstood the pressure the entire time, but also refrained from attacking Rafah - the last Hamas stronghold.
The Prime Minister had been ready to send the IDF into Rafah weeks ago, but Defense Minister Gallant and Minister Gantz have been reluctant to stand up to the Biden administration. Hamas’ attack on the Kerem Shalom crossing which killed four soldiers appeared to have changed their minds and the long awaited incursion began.
Despite the continuing pressure to end the operation, Prime Minister Netanyahu has indicated that the operation would not stop. He said: “We are continuing the war against Hamas. The seizure of the Rafah Crossing today is a very important step; an important step on the way to destroying the remaining military capabilities of Hamas, including the elimination of the four terrorist battalions in Rafah; and an important step to damage the governmental capabilities of Hamas, because as of this morning we deprived Hamas of A crossing that was essential to establishing its reign of terror in the Strip.”
The Biden team assumed that the Israeli people would fold. They assumed that like America, Israelis are tired of fighting, that they are ready to go quietly in the night as if they were back in the gas chambers in Auschwitz or Baghdad during the Farhud. They were wrong. This generation of Israelis are not like the Jews of the exile - they are the generation of victory – of Redemption.
Nothing shows this more than the following speech given by the IDF Kfir Brigade commander to his his men before entering Rafah: “For the second time in a year, it is my greatest merit to lead you into battle and to fight together. On this day 80 years ago, the Nazis led Jews to the ovens for the sole crime of being Jewish. Today, at the end of Holocaust Memorial Day, we, the IDF, are going on the offensive to attack and to win. Never again is NOW in our hands, for our people who need us and for our brothers and sisters, the hostages who are beginning to hear again that THE IDF IS ARRIVING. For the State of Israel, with determination and courage, without compromise, I believe in and am proud of every one of you. We are writing history today, Am Israel Chai! We don’t have any other country. All stations, this is the Commander, onwards and after me until the end, until victory, until we win. ON MY COMMAND, GO!”
