Israel Debates Rafah Ground Operation With Hostage Deal Truce themedialine.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from themedialine.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
BERLIN — After weeks of delays, negotiations and distractions, Israel appeared to hint this week that its assault of Rafah — a city in the Gaza Strip teeming with displaced persons above ground and riddled with Hamas tunnels below — was all but inevitable. In what some analysts and residents of the city saw as a sign of preparations for an invasion, an Israeli military official on Tuesday gave some details that include relocating civilians to a safe zone a few miles away along the Mediterranean
The restrained Israeli response allows both countries to save face and claim achievements in deterring the enemy, in a sort of return to the covert war they had been waging until the bombing of Damascus that triggered the escalation