After months of waiting, Israeli forces have begun their operation into Rafah, the last major Hamas stronghold in the Gaza Strip. The operation started after negotiations between Hamas and Israel broke down.
On Tuesday morning, Israeli forces captured the strategic Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip.
The Israeli flag was raised at the Rafah crossing, where footage showed an armored vehicle approaching a building next to a sign marked “Gaza.” The IDF released images and videos of Israeli armored vehicles reaching the Philadelphi Corridor, where many smuggling tunnels that supply arms and ammunition to Hamas are located.
The operation started after Hamas first rejected a ceasefire and hostage deal, then accepted one.
“It appears that if Hamas approved a deal that wasn’t on the table. And that they approved conditions that were convenient to them but not to Israel,” Former IDF Spokesman Jonathan Conricus, who is now with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told CBN News.
Reportedly, one of those conditions would be an end to the war, something that Israel has never agreed to.
Conricus explains, “I think that what Hamas is trying to do is a classic, textbook type of deception where they want
The remainder of this article is available in its entirety at CBN