Hamas abducted over 200 individuals on October 7 during a terrorist incident in Israel. Although more than 100 have been freed since then, approximately half remain in captivity. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) recently conducted a contentious operation that resulted in the rescue of two additional hostages.
On February 12, a raid was conducted by a special forces unit on a structure located in the Southern city of Rafah within the Gaza Strip. During this mission, two hostages, namely Louis Har, 70 years old, and Fernando Simon Marman, 60 years old, were effectively rescued. These individuals had previously been kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak.
Presently, around 1.4 million Palestinians reside in Rafah, with a significant number having sought refuge in the area following directives from Israel to evacuate other regions of the country. It’s been reported that President Joe Biden advised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to postpone any strikes on the region, which shares a border with Egypt, until the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) could devise a plan to ensure the evacuation of innocent civilians. Despite the urging from the US President, Netanyahu proceeded with the raid.
Israeli forces were responsible for the deaths of a minimum of 67 Palestinians, among them women and children, in the course of rescue operations. Gaza’s Health Ministry, as reported by The Associated Press (AP), stated that more than 12,300 Palestinian children lost their lives during the conflict.
8,400 more females have lost their lives. Although the agency does not discriminate between civilians and Hamas militants, the statistics indicate that women and children make up almost 75% of the 28,000 Palestinian casualties overall.
Over 10,000 Hamas fighters have been killed by the IDF in their estimation of the fighting. Rafah is thought to be the final Hamas stronghold by Israel. Not just US security officials were alarmed by Netanyahu’s intention to invade Rafah. Egyptian authorities informed the AP prior to the invasion that the strike may result in the suspension of Egypt’s peace deal with Israel.
The Egyptian administration is worried about how the war may affect humanitarian aid and does not want large numbers of Palestinian refugees to flood into its borders. Right now, the primary entrance point for that assistance is Rafah.
