How Israel pushed dotted ‘red lines’ to have its way in Rafah

Israel has ignored calls from its Western allies not to conduct a major operation in Rafah and faced no consequences.

Israeli tanks have rolled into Rafah’s city centre and its army announced that it now controls the entire Philadelphi Corridor, the strip of land that runs along Egypt’s border with Gaza’s Rafah Governorate.

This violates the conditions of its treaty with Egypt that stipulate the strip, also known as the Salah al-Din Axis, is a buffer zone that Egypt oversees from its side of the border.

Israel had been threatening a “full-scale” land invasion of Rafah for months, much to the distress of the international community, which warned that such an attack would be a “red line”.

Then, a little over three weeks ago, on May 6, Israel said it wanted to execute a “limited operation” against Hamas targets in eastern Rafah.

It intensified air attacks on the area and ordered some 100,000 displaced Palestinians packed tightly there to evacuate to al-Mawasi which, aid organisations have said in horror, cannot support human life.