Israel “Won’t Achieve” Goals in Gaza’s Rafah, According to Hamas

Palestinian Territories: A senior Hamas official told AFP on Thursday that Israel’s invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah will not achieve its claimed objectives of overthrowing the Palestinian Hamas organization and liberating captives.

“Even if Israel enters and invades Rafah, it will not achieve what it wants,” Ghazi Hamad said in a phone interview from Qatar, the home base for many high-ranking members of Hamas’ decision-making bureau.

Hamad said that Israel has “spent nearly seven months in Gaza and invaded all areas and destroyed a lot, but so far has not been able to achieve anything of its main goals, whether eliminating Hamas or returning the captives” .

Despite criticism from across the world and worries for the approximately 1.5 million Palestinians seeking sanctuary in the city, Israel has determined to proceed with the planned military assault in Rafah.

Israel has been advised not to deploy soldiers into Rafah by many nations, including the United States, Israel’s main ally and arms supplier, due to concerns of significant civilian fatalities.

“We have spoken with all parties involved in the conflict… about the seriousness of invading Rafah and that Israel is heading towards committing additional massacres and additional genocide,” stated Hamad.

“This will undoubtedly threaten the negotiations because it is clear from this declared position that Israel is interested in continuing the war and aggression and has no intention of continuing negotiations and reaching an agreement,” he said.

The negotiations to establish a ceasefire and the release of captives have been mediated by Qatar, the US, and Egypt, but they have been stuck for days.

However, according to Israeli media quoting unidentified sources, an Egyptian team is scheduled to visit Israel on Friday in order to begin a fresh round of negotiations.

Israel’s war council was gathering on Thursday, according to spokesperson for the Israeli government David Mencer, “to discuss how to destroy the last battalions of Hamas”.

Mencer said on Wednesday that the army had destroyed “at least 18 or 19 of Hamas’s 24 battalions” since Israel started its offensive assault of Gaza on October 27.

“Netanyahu faltering”

According to officials, the major objective of the next attack is Rafah, where the remaining battalions are located.

Rafah, which is close to Egypt, is the target of frequent Israeli bombardment, even before to the anticipated ground assault. The majority of Gazans seeking asylum in Rafah are staying in temporary camps.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has contradictory positions on Gaza, which Hamad said the impending war was revealing.

“Netanyahu is stumbling because, on the one hand, he wants to return the captives to their families, as he says, but at the same time, he puts them in great danger, as his army deliberately killed many hostages.”

The Israeli army has acknowledged that it killed a few captives in Gaza by accident.

Hamad said Netanyahu was “manipulating and procrastinating” in order to “deceive the Israeli public that there are negotiations and deceive the international community as well that there are negotiations.”.

The Israeli prime minister, he said, was “trying to twist the truth” and assert that “Hamas is the obstacle in these negotiations.”

Asserting that “the Israeli side unfortunately deals with the matter foolishly and is very confused,” Hamad added that Egypt and Qatar were “making great efforts to reach an agreement.”

In addition, Hamad informed AFP that Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in 2007, was already formulating plans for the region’s post-conflict development.

He said that the organization was “working on the post-war phase to ensure that there is a great effort to rebuild the Gaza Strip and provide the necessities for a decent life.”.

Around 250 people were held captive by Hamas in Gaza during their October 7 offensive, which started the conflict.

According to Israeli sources, 129 hostages—34 of whom the IDF claims are dead—are still being held captive in Gaza.

1,170 individuals, including Israelis and tourists, lost their lives as a consequence of the assault on southern Israel, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli numbers.

The health ministry of the Gaza Strip reports that 34,305 individuals have died as a result of Israel’s retaliatory attack against Hamas; the majority of them were women and children.