Netanyahu orders army to prepare for ground invasion in densely populated Rafah

News Network

February 10, 2024

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the regime’s military to prepare a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians from Gaza’s Rafah ahead of an expected invasion of the densely populated southern city, despite warnings that such a move "would be a disaster."

On Friday, Netanyahu's office said he had ordered the military to come up with a "combined plan" that includes both a mass evacuation of civilians and attacks on Hamas' fighters in Rafah.

"It is impossible to achieve the goal of the war of eliminating Hamas by leaving four Hamas battalions in Rafah," the statement said.

"On the contrary, it is clear that intense activity in Rafah requires that civilians evacuate the areas of combat," it claimed.

The evacuation orders are seen as part of Israeli propaganda.

At the start of the aggression on Gaza, the regime ordered 1.1 million people in the north of Gaza to evacuate and move south of the coastal sliver. However, it has continued to rain down bombs on the south.

It also remains unclear where civilians can go as Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza that began in October has caused widespread destruction, especially in northern Gaza.

Netanyahu's order came in defiance of heavy international criticism, including from the US, of Israeli intentions to invade Rafah that borders Egypt and is now home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were displaced from their homes in other parts of Gaza because of the Israeli strikes.

US President Joe Biden on Thursday said Israel's conduct in the war is "over the top," the harshest US criticism yet of its staunch ally.

The US State Department also warned that an invasion of Rafah in the current circumstances "would be a disaster."

Israel has already begun to strike Rafah from the air since overnight.

Aid agency officials have also warned against any invasion of Rafah.

"We need Gaza's last remaining hospitals, shelters, markets and water systems to stay functional," said Catherine Russell, head of the UN children's agency UNICEF.

"Without them, hunger and disease will skyrocket, taking more child lives."

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

Since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 27,947 Palestinians and injured more than 67,459 others.

Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under the rubble in Gaza, which is under “complete siege” by Israel.

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Syrian Town erupts after Israeli forces enter Beit Jinn; heavy casualties reported

News Network

November 28,2025

Several Syrians were killed and more than two dozen others injured in Israeli strikes on the outskirts of Damascus, amid intensified incursions by the occupying regime since the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad and the rise of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rule.

Syrian state TV reported that the casualties occurred during an overnight Israeli assault involving helicopters and drones on the town of Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside. The attack followed an Israeli military unit’s entry into the town, where they were surrounded by local residents, leading to gunfire and direct confrontations.

According to the report, “The occupation army’s helicopters and artillery shelled Beit Jinn, located at the foothills of Mount Hermon, resulting in 13 martyrs and 25 injured civilians.” The broadcaster did not specify the full extent of damage.

Al-Ikhbariyah Syria confirmed that the shelling coincided with Israeli soldiers entering Beit Jinn, while artillery pounded surrounding areas. The broadcaster stated that the escalation began after local residents clashed with an Israeli patrol that had infiltrated the southern town and “kidnapped” three young men.

Following a two-hour exchange of heavy fire, Israeli forces withdrew and repositioned on the hill of Butt al-Warda at the town’s outskirts.

Israeli media acknowledged that six soldiers were wounded in the clashes—three of them seriously—describing the confrontation as a “sudden ambush” that forced the deployment of reserve units and air support to secure an exit route. No further details were provided.

The aggression has fueled renewed displacement from Beit Jinn, with residents fleeing to nearby villages amid increasingly frequent Israeli attacks.

The raid came just a day after Israeli troops carried out another ground incursion into Umm al-Luqas village in Quneitra province. According to SANA, an Israeli unit in four vehicles entered the village, raided several homes, and later withdrew.

Syria condemned the repeated incursions as violations of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and UN resolutions, urging the international community to enforce compliance and pressure Israel to halt its operations and withdraw fully.

Israel has expanded its attacks across Syrian territory following the collapse of the Assad government last year. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly instructed his forces to push deeper into Syrian territory and seize strategic positions.

Meanwhile, critics say the HTS-led interim government’s inaction and growing normalization gestures toward Israel have emboldened Tel Aviv to intensify its military operations. HTS, formerly linked to al-Qaeda, seized control of Damascus last December, formally ending Assad’s rule.

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