In the video: documentation of the activity of the Nahal Brigade's combat team in the Gaza Strip/photo: Report
The Operations Division at the General Staff and the Southern Command completed last week the operational plans for a combined ground maneuver with air, naval and intelligence forces to the Central and Rafah camps. These are the last two centers to which the IDF has yet to maneuver on the ground, and where there are cumulatively thousands of terrorists, in organic battalions that have not yet been disbanded.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated at the end of last week that he approved the operational plans for the IDF for ground maneuvers in Rafah, but sources in the defense establishment clarified that this is not the first time that the plans have been approved, and that this is not the first time that their implementation has been postponed to an unknown date.
The defense establishment claims that there Several reasons why the political echelon has been rejecting the maneuver to Rafah for months despite the fact that the Southern Command Units, the Coordinator of Government Operations in the Territories, the IDF Coordination and Liaison Headquarters in the Gaza Strip and the Shin Bet presented a clear plan for the phased evacuation of Rafah, where 1.4 million Palestinians are currently located.
"Evacuating citizens from Rafah is complex.
It can take four weeks more or less.
But there is a good operational response to the evacuation of the population from Rafih.
He was presented to the General Staff and presented to the political level," said a senior security official.
"There is a good operational response to the evacuation of the population from Rafih, it was presented to the political level."
IDF fighters in the Gaza Strip/IDF spokesman
At this stage, the political echelon is busy upgrading the international legitimacy for a broad operation in Rafah and the central camps, despite strong opposition from the US, Egypt, Qatar and other countries.
In the background, the Americans are making efforts to postpone the maneuver. They are putting very heavy pressure on the Qataris to push Hamas to advance the hostage deal , formulating a broad humanitarian plan to prevent hunger in the Gaza Strip by airdropping food and establishing a temporary pier on the shores of the Gaza Strip to expand the capacity of food to the entire strip, and worked to open a humanitarian axis from the south to the north of the Gaza Strip on a new road paved by the IDF's engineering forces .
At the same time, the Americans are working to plan an outline of a long-term ceasefire that will allow the Palestinians to return to their homes in the center and north of the Gaza Strip.
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Decisions on the continuation of fighting against Hezbollah will also have to be made.
Heads of the Defense System/Ministry of Defense, Ariel Harmoni
The assessment in the IDF is that if the political echelon declares the failure of the talks in the current round for progress in negotiations with Hamas mediated by Qatar, the legitimacy of a broad ground operation will increase, and then the political echelon will be required to decide whether the ground forces will maneuver towards the center camps or towards Rafah, and whether it is necessary to wait for the start of the operation until after Ramadan.
Also, one of the additional considerations in the wooded ground maneuver is the connection to the northern arena and the limited campaign against Hezbollah.
The security establishment estimates that going into a long truce as part of a deal to release hostages will uproot Hezbollah's legitimacy to continue attacks on the Israeli home front, and then the political echelon will be required to make decisions on the continuation of fighting in southern Lebanon.
On the other hand, there are many elements in the security system who insist that the IDF must under any circumstances maneuver into Rafah in order to destroy terrorist infrastructure, eliminate senior Hamas officials and disband the battalions of the brigade that carried out severe attacks, and is a hiding place for the terrorists who participated in the massacre on October 7.
"No Residents can be returned to their homes knowing that there are still terrorist battalions in Rafah, a branched tunnel system that knows not only how to fight but also how to smuggle weapons," said a security official, adding, "This will be the real test of the government and the General Staff. To make difficult decisions."
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