A Hamas police vehicle was struck in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah on Wednesday evening in what Palestinian media reported as a targeted assassination by the IDF.
According to the reports, Hamas police’s special forces head, Majdi Abd al-Aal, was killed in the suspected attack.
דיווח: חוסל מג’די עבד אלעאל, מפקד הכוחות המיוחדים של משטרת רפיח בחמאס! pic.twitter.com/6G4zAx94Sm
— יענקי כהן | Yanki Coen (@yankicoen) February 7, 2024
Israel has no concrete plans to minimize civilian deaths in Rafah in the case the IDF decides to launch an offensive into the southern Gaza city, CNN reported on Wednesday, citing a top Israeli military commander.
Brig.-Gen. Dan Goldfuss, commander of the 98th Division, reportedly said earlier this week that his division would work on evacuation plans “if and when” he is told to launch an invasion.
Palestinians at the site of a destroyed police car after it was hit from an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, on February 7, 2024 (credit: ATIA MOHAMMED/FLASH90)
CNN reported that the information divulged by Goldfuss was still relevant as of Wednesday afternoon.
Israel will ‘coordinate with Egypt’ on Rafah invasion
Earlier this week, an Israeli official said on Sunday that the IDF would coordinate with Egypt and seek ways of evacuating most of the displaced people northward ahead of any ground sweep of Rafah.
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However, despite the steady flow of reports in recent weeks that the IDF would immediately take action with ground troops in Rafah, The Jerusalem Post has learned that such moves could still take time and significant negotiations.
Multiple sources have said that an IDF move in Rafah is not on the immediate horizon, even as Israel has made some progress in negotiations with Egypt over the issue.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that he is “especially alarmed” by reports that the IDF intends to focus next on Rafah in Gaza.
“Such an action would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional consequences,” Guterres told the 193-member UN General Assembly as he again called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the unconditional release of all hostages.