Israeli government spokesman David Mensah said on Monday that Israel’s warning to residents of Rafah to evacuate was not a bluff but marked the beginning of a long-promised Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operation to win the war. Stated.
Asked at a Breitbart News press conference whether Monday’s warnings (which included flyers, SMS messages, phone calls and Arabic-language broadcasts) were a tactic to encourage Hamas to accept the hostage deal currently being considered, Israeli government spokesman David Mensah suggested that was not the case. It was exactly what they looked like.
“The purpose of the operation in Rafah is to do exactly what the Israel Defense Forces said they would do,” Mensah said. “We have the last four battalions of Hamas in Rafah. We cannot leave them in power and it has been clearly stated that they will simply take back Gaza. As a result, they will attack us again, because that is exactly what they said.
He said Israel would “liberate Gaza from Hamas.”
The White House has repeatedly urged Israel to avoid attacking Hamas, but Israel appears determined to press ahead with it whether the Biden administration supports it or not.
Mensah said the warning to residents of Rafah, a strategic border site with Egypt, “calls on residents of certain areas to relocate, because in these areas we will be operating against terrorist organizations.” It pointed out. He added that the Israel Defense Forces had alerted “Gaza City.” [in northern Gaza] “It remains a dangerous war zone,” it said, and residents should “avoid returning north of Wadi Gaza.”
He said “humanitarian assistance will continue” in newly expanded humanitarian zones near Rafah, including the Al Mawashi area near the coast. He confirmed reports that Israel had been told to reduce the amount of aid flowing to northern Gaza because there was too much food, and said markets were “bustling in both the north and the south.”
“The issue is never about getting aid to Gaza, it’s about getting aid to civilians in Gaza before it is stolen and pillaged by Hamas,” Mensah said.
Mercer also noted that Monday marked Israel’s official Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom HaShoah ve Hagebullah, or “Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust and Heroism.”
He said Israel was mourning the deaths of four soldiers killed by Hamas on Sunday in a rocket attack on the Keren Shalom border crossing, where humanitarian aid enters Gaza from Israel.
Asked whether Operation Rafah meant an end to hostage deal negotiations, Mensah hinted that Israel was still open to negotiations. The hostages returned home. ” He said Hamas had “sabotaged” the recent agreement in a “deliberate” way.
Hamas refused to accede to the deal unless Israel agreed to end the war for good. Israel denies it. Because that would mean accepting defeat and allowing Hamas to survive and return to his regime in Gaza.
Mercer put the number of hostages at 132, adding: “Unfortunately 37 of them were killed by Hamas.” Israeli Army Radio announced Sunday that at least 60 Israeli hostages are believed to be alive.
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.
