Amidst calls for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrest, Israeli tanks have rolled into Rafah’s city centre. In their latest statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that they now control the entire Philadelphi Corridor, a sliver of land that runs along Egypt’s border with Gaza. Meanwhile, as the death toll continues to rise, people across the world have united against the Israeli offensive in Rafah using the viral social media tag #AllEyesOnRafah.
Israel’s move violates the treaty with Egypt
“Hamas has been holding our hostages in Rafah, which is why our forces are operating in Rafah. Hamas is holding our hostages in living hell across our border in Gaza, including in Rafah. We will not stop fighting for their freedom.”
🔴Watch the full statement by IDF Spokesperson… pic.twitter.com/QkdyjgyVBQ
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 30, 2024
According to Al Jazeera, Israel’s move violates conditions of its treaty with Egypt, which stipulate that the strip, also known as the Salah al-Din Axis, remains a buffer zone overseen by Egypt from its side of the border. While the Netanyahu administration has long threatened a “full-scale” invasion of Rafah, on May 6, the IDF announced that it wanted to execute a limited operation against Hamas targets in eastern Rafah. It intensified air attacks on the area and ordered some 100,000 displaced Palestinians packed tightly there to evacuate to al-Mawasi which, aid organizations have said in horror, cannot support human life. By the next day, it had taken control of the Rafah land crossing, a death knell for aid deliveries into the besieged and battered Gaza Strip and its starving people.