The Israeli government denied on Monday that the withdrawal of ground forces from southern Gaza on Sunday meant it had abandoned plans to attack Hamas in the city of Rafah and eliminate the last four terrorist battalions.
Israel abruptly withdrew its troops, with only the Nahal Brigades controlling the access corridor from Israel to Gaza, blocking movement from southern Gaza to the north, leaving Hamas terrorists trapped in the south.
The sudden move is an apparent response to pressure from President Joe Biden, who has said he wants an “immediate ceasefire” on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after seven aid workers were inadvertently killed. That was the reaction.
The withdrawal also came hours before Israeli negotiators departed for Cairo, Egypt, presumably to help Hamas release some of the remaining 130 Israeli hostages held in Gaza. It is likely that he took a conciliatory stance in anticipation of this.
Israeli officials described the withdrawal as a tactical decision that would allow Israel to prepare for an attack on Rafah, which the United States had previously opposed without any effort to evacuate civilians. .
In response to a question from Breitbart News, Israeli government spokesperson Avi Heyman said, “I’m not going to read too much into the fact that we’ve had soldiers come and go from everywhere.” He added: “We can move soldiers in and out very easily and quickly.”
Hyman added that more than 300 trucks entered the Gaza Strip on Monday, the highest number of humanitarian aid trucks since the start of the war.
Israeli society has endured six months of war thanks to pressure from the United States, slow progress in hostage negotiations, and a resurgent opposition that picks up where it left off with protests over judicial reform in 2023. Later, I realized that we were separated.
On the left, demonstrators have accused Netanyahu of slow progress in hostage negotiations. Right-wing ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have said the coalition will collapse if Netanyahu does not continue the war.
Asked if Israelis are united enough to continue the war, Heiman said that for Israelis, April 8 is actually similar to October 185. “We still feel the pain…We still remember the sights and smells of October 7th.” He says the only way to never have October 7th again is to destroy Hamas. He said the people of Israel are united in this belief. Therefore, we will continue to move towards the destruction of Hamas. ”
Joel B. Pollack is a senior editor at Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday Sunday nights from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM ET (4:00 PM to 7:00 PM PT) on Sirius XM Patriot. He is the author of a recently published e-book.The Zionist conspiracy (and how to join it)‘ is now available on Audible. He is also the author of an e-book. Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 US Presidential Election. He is the recipient of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter @joelpolak.
