Citing Israeli and Egyptian officials, the newspaper said that the aim of the operation will be to occupy the Rafah border crossing and station troops along the so-called Philadelphia Corridor separating Egypt and Gaza, with Israeli forces operating within the Strip.

The operation has not gotten the all-clear from Israeli leaders, according to the newspaper, which said that the timing will depend on talks with Egypt.

• The Wall Street Journal also reported that Egypt rejected an Israeli proposal to have Israeli troops conduct joint patrols on the Egyptian side of the border, saying it was working to install barriers and increase surveillance in the area.
• “Israel does not want to be responsible for Gaza in the long term, but the question is how do you make sure that Gaza stays demilitarized?” a senior Israeli military official was quoted as saying.
• “It’s a real dilemma. The only way to control a geographic area is to control what’s going in and out.”
• “Right now in the near term, in the next few decades, Israel needs to control the borders because of the security issues,” the official added.

In the morning, several Israeli strikes hit an area close to Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza. The strikes killed 12 Palestinains, according to Al Jazzera.

The planned Israeli operation along Gaza’s border with Egypt shows that Israel intends to occupy key parts of the Strip for the long term.

Egypt will not likely facilitate the Israeli operation.

At the same time it won’t be able to intervene against it in any way as Israeli troops will be operating within Gaza. The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian side of the border will further complicate the lives of more than two millions people living in the Strip, which was already considered an open air prison before the war.

While Israel claims that the occupation of the Strip is meant to guarantee its security, the occupation could lead to the mass displacement of Palestinians as living conditions will be unbearable.

Source: SOUTH FRONT