IDF succeeds in evacuating almost 1 million from Rafah in 2 weeks

IDF controls most of Philadelphi Corridor, 30% of Rafah • Military unsure where Sinwar is

By YONAH JEREMY BOBMAY 20, 2024 16:59

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The IDF has succeeded in evacuating around 950,000 Palestinian civilians in only two weeks since May 6, the military revealed on Monday.

In addition, around 30-40% of Rafah is now under IDF control, not merely a small portion of the eastern sector, and about 60-70% of Rafah has been completely evacuated.

The remaining Rafah civilians, estimated at around 300,000-400,000, are almost all near the Gaza coast Tel al-Sultan area.

This is despite US predictions that the civilian population could not be evacuated without a huge death count or without leaving around four months to do so.

Of those evacuated, the overwhelming majority moved northwest to al-Muwasi, while a smaller number moved to central Gaza.

A much less significant number returned to Khan Yunis, though that had been discussed as a real possibility for potentially hundreds of thousands of civilians.

Regarding the battle, though there certainly is significant resistance from the four Hamas battalions in Rafah, the IDF said it had mostly taken them by surprise.

After initial early and more unified resistance, the impression is that the battalions have started a process of being taken apart, fleeing, or hiding to try to fight a guerilla-style battle at a later date.

Another possibility is that Hamas’s battalions will put up more of a fight for Tel al-Sultan, but generally to date, the terror group’s battalions have not put up as hard a fight as Hamas did in the initial battles for Gaza City in October-November or for Khan Yunis in December.

https://player.jpost.com/public/player.html?player=jpost&media=3714047&url=www.jpost.comFootage of soldiers from the IDFs Division 162 operating in Eastern Rafah, May 20, 2024 (IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)

IDF has taken over most of the Philadelphi Corridor

Next, the IDF has taken control of the majority, though not all, of the Philadelphi Corridor with Egypt. 

The military has already destroyed many cross-border tunnels on the Corridor, Hamas’ main remaining method for receiving new weapons, but still is not sure yet how many tunnels remain.

In other parts of Gaza, it has taken months for the IDF to get a fuller picture of the tunnel challenge.

Despite Egypt’s anger at Israel for the Rafah operation and its closing the Rafah Crossing regarding humanitarian aid, the IDF said that military relations on the ground with Cairo have remained strong, and there have been no violent incidents between the sides.

Other than a tiny number, there have also been no Palestinians penetrating into Egypt, which had been Cairo’s biggest fear.

The IDF said that it has observed its understandings with Egypt of how to carry out the Rafah operation with utmost precision.