Israeli troops began the military operation in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza strip. The operation began hours after Hamas accepted the ceasefire proposal and Israel said it was analyzing it.
Images captured by an Israeli soldier’s cell phone, show the symbolic moment in which Israel fulfills its promise.
In the promised attack on Rafah, the border with Egypt was immediately closed. The flags have already been raised, the passage is now controlled by the Tel Aviv army.
The view over Rafah, accounts for the scale of night attacks.
“A lot of shooting, a lot of bombings (with) planes, rockets, armed cars and machine guns. Never in my life have I seen anything like this and I’m almost 69 years old,” said one survivor, Jomaa Abdel.
You injured number in the hundreds and they gather in what remains of the hospitals, which have been attacked over the last few weeks. Israel has always claimed that without this intervention, the plan to annihilate Hamas would not be complete.
“We don’t belong to Hamas, we’re not from Fatah and we’ve never worked with any group. I don’t know what to say. I must have been sleeping. I woke up and the house was gone and the wife and brothers were all dead. What can I say?” said another survivor, Mohamed Abu Omrah.
You deaths in the first attacks already exceed two dozenand the number is updated practically hourly.
The European Union was the first to condemn Israel.
“I’m afraid this will again cause many casualties, civilian casualties, whatever they say. There are 600,000 children in Gaza. They will be pushed into the so-called safe zones,” said Josep Borrell, head of European diplomacy.
The military operation in Rafah, ignores all calls from the international communitywho always tried to dissuade Israel.
“The US government has said that Rafah is a red line. The Israeli government has erased all red lines, not only from the United States, but also from the International Court of Justice, the UN, many other governments and organizations around the world “, explained Omar Shakir, member of the NGO Human Rights Watch.
But the truth is that Israel moved forward hours after Hamas accepted the ceasefire proposal: a phased truce agreement, in exchange for the release of the hostages. A negotiation process that involved the United States.
“Hamas has responded to the hostage agreement. We are currently analyzing that response and discussing it with our partners in the region. (CIA) Director (William) Burns, as you know, is working on the ground in time real,” said John Kirby of the US Security Council.
However, on the ground there is no respite in sight.
The war started precisely 7 months ago and It has already claimed more than 34,000 lives, most of them women and children.
United Nations experts confirm that they found in Gaza, graves with corpses, of Palestinian civilians who were buried alive.
