Rafah is in Israel’s sights. Even with Egypt and the United States wanting to revive the dialogue for a ceasefire, the Government of Benjamin Netanyahu is determined to impose its land invasion on the last corner of Gaza.
Neither widespread international condemnation nor the warnings of humanitarian organizations about the “catastrophe” that would be an attack on an area of ??64 square kilometers, in which 1.5 million Palestinians are crowded, most of them displaced by force, do not stop him several times due to the Israeli offensive.
According to Hebrew media, the army is ready to start the campaign and the war cabinet is close to giving the green light. In what is interpreted as a preliminary step, Israel has intensified the bombing and Israeli forces plan to set up a coastal area with precarious tents, to resettle civilians, who are afraid of heading to areas in the south and center razed by Israel and still attacked.
On the other side of the wall, Netanyahu called for “unity” to Israeli citizens in his message for the ongoing Passover, pointing to the “challenges to come.” Which has been read as a message not only with a view to Rafah, but to a larger escalation on the northern border with Hezbollah, which in recent days has expanded the range of its launches from Lebanon.
However, the prime minister’s speech collides with reality: his disapproval rating ranges between 60% and 75%; the majority of Israelis call for early elections (71%, according to a poll by the Israel Democracy Institute), and disbelief is growing over the chances of achieving the “absolute victory” that Netanyahu defends, even though it is culturally frowned upon to betray these kinds of guidelines.
In the streets, the main claim continues to be “the return of all the hostages”. The more progressive protests of each Saturday continue, but at the same time unusual spontaneous protests are recorded, such as the mobilization to Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem after the release of the video of the Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin or the rally of Friday in front of the house of the minister of the war cabinet, Benny Gantz.
While there is some consensus on the abductees, there is also no unanimity on how to get them back (whether through a deal with Hamas, a permanent ceasefire or military pressure) and the nuances of public opinion vary according to their ideology.
The same is true of other divisive issues such as the recruitment of ultra-Orthodox Jews or who should control Gaza when the Israeli invasion ends. And in view of the perception that the Government delays decision-making for political interests, antagonistic positions emerge.
There was a demonstration on Thursday at the border of the Palestinian enclave. Two marches with opposing slogans converged there, separated by a few kilometers: one, led by groups of settlers, in favor of the reoccupation of the strip; another, led by the Israeli-Palestinian movement Standing Together, against this proposal and the war.
In the first case, the police prevented the handful of far-right militants from fulfilling their desire to set up an outpost inside Gaza. However, their ideals are far from marginal and they have representation in the Government: several ministers and parliamentarians from the most radical wing of the Executive defend the return of the settlements.
The second group, on the other hand, is a minority in Israel, but this does not stop them from “representing the other form”, as Alon-Lee Green, co-director of Standing Together, describes it. “Only peace will bring security, and an end to the war in Gaza and the military occupation in the West Bank,” he says. This is the way to achieve a normal and safe life, in which we are all equal and free”.
Braving 41 degrees, and surrounded by a police cordon, dozens of protesters of different generations stood at a crossroads near Sderot and the kibbutzim attacked by Hamas and other groups on the 7th, despite some honking , insults and a cry of “We want Bibi” from passing vehicles.
Naomi Ben Bassat, from the group La Otra Voz, is used to it: “We stop at intersections to talk about Gaza, the lack of electricity and other basic supplies.” He defends that “today it is necessary to do it more than ever”, although he admits that there is some discomfort because “the world is very angry with us” and “sometimes they omit the catastrophe of October 7 or the kidnapping of children and people big”.
Next to him, a woman from the women’s pacifist group Women Wage Peace adds that “the world thinks that we are all extreme right-wing fanatics like the Government and that is not true, there are many of us who want peace”. And so, in a divided Israel without a moral compass, it raises a common fear among the sectors that oppose the extremist drift: “If we continue on this path, there will be no more Israel.”
