4/8/2024–|Last updated: 4/8/202408:15 PM (Mecca time)
The military and strategic expert, Colonel Hatem Karim Al-Falahi, suggested that the decision to withdraw the occupation army from Khan Yunis, south of Gaza strip Relationship to a possible military attack on Rafah South of the Gaza Strip, but he spoke about other calculations related to the ongoing negotiations and international pressure to stop the war.
He said that the sudden withdrawal of the Israeli brigades from Khan Yunis raises many question marks about the future plan of the occupation, and also confirms the existence of problems among the senior military leadership in Israel regarding the issue of dealing with the sectors in the Gaza Strip.
Colonel Karim Al-Falahi, in his speech during the military analysis pause on Al-Jazeera channel regarding the course of the war in Gaza, points out that the military sectors that were withdrawn from Khan Yunis have been participating in the battle for a long time, and have suffered a lot of damage, and therefore the withdrawal process may be to restore readiness. Combat and preparations for the battle of Rafah, suggesting that Khan Yunis will be a shelter area for the residents of Rafah.
He added that the very heavy Israeli bombing of the western and eastern areas of the city of Rafah suggests that it is “an operation to prepare for a future theater of operations.”
Israeli Army Radio announced that Israel had withdrawn all units of the 98th Division, with its three brigades, from the Khan Yunis area after four months of fighting, leaving only the Nahal Brigade operating in the Netzarim Corridor in Gaza, which is the corridor that the occupation army established to cut off the north from the south with the aim of preventing the population from… Gaza from returning to the northern Gaza Strip.
Negotiations and pressure
However, the military and strategic expert pointed to other developments taking place in contrast to the Israelis’ talk about the Rafah attack. There are ongoing negotiations in Egypt between the Palestinian resistance and the Israelis, and what is going on about a breakthrough operation that has taken place there, in addition to the presence of American pressure to reach an agreement between the two parties. It also takes time to transport those in Rafah.
While he stressed that Israel did not achieve any of the goals it set, the military and strategic expert said that the military capabilities of the Palestinian resistance had been destroyed, but in return more than 1,100 Israeli vehicles, including tanks and armored vehicles, were destroyed.
He stressed that the Israeli forces have been extremely exhausted in the recent period, and other fronts have been opened against them in the north and in the West Bank, and there are Iranian threats of an upcoming strike on Israel, in addition to the internal division and international pressure to stop the war on Gaza.
Regarding the size of the occupation forces present in Gaza after the withdrawal from the south of the Palestinian Strip, Colonel Karim Al-Falahi said that the Israelis are talking about the presence of the Nahal Brigade on Road 10 in the Gaza Valley to prevent the arrival of reinforcements from the south of the Strip to the north. He added that a number of vehicles are present at the Erez crossing, And another force in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.