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Israel Must Enter Rafah to Defeat Hamas and Prevent Future Terror Attacks
Trucks carrying aid are seen near the Rafah border in Gaza after entering from Egypt, October 10, 2023. Photo: Sinai for Human Rights/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
I almost walked past it, yet it’s been seared into my brain ever since. While visiting a Palestinian town in the West Bank two years ago, my eyes landed on a handwritten memorial to Gazan children killed during the 2014 Israel-Hamas war. Jewish tradition teaches that one life is equal to an entire world. And there I was, staring at a list of entire worlds destroyed far too soon, in the most tragic circumstances.
I say this not to make a grand emotional gesture, but to point out that as someone with countless family and friends in the region — and who visited Israel as recently as December — I’m all-too aware of what’s at stake, both for Israelis and Palestinians. And that is exactly why I believe Israel must carry out its mission against Hamas to the fullest, including in Rafah.
How soon the Israel Defense Forces should move into Rafah is up for debate. So too is how Israel can simultaneously best protect innocent Gazans. (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly emphasized that a major incursion into the southern Gaza city will come alongside a plan to evacuate civilians from Rafah; on March 13 the IDF announced it would direct displaced Palestinians in Rafah toward “humanitarian islands” in central Gaza.)
But what is clear is that Israel’s mission to end Hamas’ rule in Gaza will be incomplete if it leaves Hamas’ Rafah battalions intact. This would be a disaster for Israelis, Palestinians, and their Arab neighbors alike.
Israel’s conduct in this war has always been motivated by the understanding that, after inflicting the atrocities of October 7, Hamas cannot remain as a ruling military power on the Jewish state’s border.
The rationale was never revenge, nor perpetuating Netanyahu’s rule. (Contrary to misconceptions in the West, Israelis overwhelmingly support the war effort despite their simultaneous disdain towards their prime minister). Israelis recognize, as Amir Tibon of the staunchly left-wing Haaretz put it, that “a country that doesn’t retaliate in the most forceful way after terrorists kidnap an eight year old from her bed, simply won’t exist. Especially not in the Middle East.”
But it’s not just Israel’s future that relies on toppling Hamas. As long as Hamas retains power in Gaza, Palestinians will never have their own state. Israel’s presence in the West Bank, and all its accompanying injustices, will continue, with Israelis refusing to risk the West Bank — which overlooks Israel’s major population centers — being taken over by Hamas. (As a reminder, Hamas has consistently declared its intention to repeat the October 7 massacre until it eliminates the Jewish State.)
As The Times of Israel’s Haviv Rettig Gur recently observed, Israel leaving Gaza without uprooting Hamas from Rafah would prompt a “Taliban retaking of Afghanistan moment” in the enclave, dooming Israelis and Gazans to further rounds of brutal fighting.
As for Lebanon, Hezbollah, whose training and firepower make Hamas look like amateurs, would understand that Israel, lacking the resolve to destroy Hamas, will be similarly unable to prevent Hezbollah from setting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on fire. And if you think Israel’s response in Gaza has been ferocious, just watch what happens to Beirut when Hezbollah begins bombing hospitals and schools in Tel Aviv.
That’s to say nothing of Yemen’s Houthis, and the numerous other terror groups throughout the Middle East — all backed by Iranian ayatollahs who thrive on regional instability. It was not for nothing that, on October 10, US President Joe Biden declared “to any country, any organization, anyone thinking of taking advantage of the situation. I have one word: Don’t.”
Put simply, Israel’s failure to overthrow Hamas in Gaza has the potential to set the region alight.
While we’re here, it’s worth noting that the intensifying calls for Israel to end its war have little connection to Israel’s conduct in Gaza, and much more to do with society’s preference for dead Jews over Jews who fight back. A quick test: if you’ve only discovered your dismay at the destruction caused by urban warfare now that Jews are involved, ask yourself why.
Indeed, what we are witnessing today is a repeat of the same phenomenon that has occurred in every Gaza war since Hamas took power in 2007: the world has never allowed Israel to unequivocally win. The only way for this vicious cycle of violence to end is to reverse that trend, and let Israel topple Hamas.
Calling on Israel to stay out of Rafah may seem like the humanitarian thing to do. The number of deaths is tragic; the suffering of those still alive is horrible. But as Haviv Rettig Gur explained, “if Hamas remains standing” in Rafah, “then the entire war will have been for nothing.” All those Gazans and Israelis will have died in vain. And the world, having pressured Israel to abandon its war, will be to blame.
Josh Feldman is an Australian writer who focuses primarily on Israeli and Jewish issues. Twitter: @joshrfeldman
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Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iranian and Iran-affiliated media claimed on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence materials related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and defense plans.
“Iran’s intelligence apparatus has obtained a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist regime,” Iran’s state broadcaster said, referring to Israel in the manner accepted in those Muslim or Arab states that don’t recognize its legitimacy. The statement was also relayed by the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah.
The reports did not include any details on the documents or how Iran had obtained them.
The intelligence reportedly included “thousands of documents related to that regime’s nuclear plans and facilities,” it added.
According to the reports, “the data haul was extracted during a covert operation and included a vast volume of materials including documents, images, and videos.”
The report comes amid high tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, over which it is in talks with the US administration of President Donald Trump.
Iranian-Israeli tensions reached an all-time high since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, including Iranian rocket fire on Israel and Israeli aerial raids in Iran that devastated much of the regime’s air defenses.
Israel, which regards the prospect of the antisemitic mullah regime obtaining a nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has indicated it could resort to a military strike against Iran’s installations should talks fail to curb uranium enrichment.
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Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.
Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian terrorist group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.
There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.
The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.
Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.
US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS
The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.
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US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.
The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.
The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.
The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.
The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.
The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.
The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.
USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.
One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.
The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.
Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.
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