Israel Closes In on Rafah After Banning Al Jazeera

The Israeli Ministry of Communications announced on Sunday that it had raided an office belonging to Al Jazeera just hours after the Israeli cabinet ordered its closure. The Qatar-based network lambasted the decision as a “criminal act”.

On Monday, journalist Mohamed Gomaa sat down with Sputnik’s The Final Countdown to discuss Israel’s decision to ban Al Jazeera’s broadcasting in Israel and raid its office. The Israeli Ministry of Communications said on Sunday that it had confiscated the broadcaster’s equipment just hours after the Israeli cabinet ordered its closure.

Gomaa suggested that the Israeli government is attempting to “suppress any coverage of what they are doing in Gaza now” as Israel likely plans to carry out their attack on the city of Rafah. A live report published on Monday by a US news site claims that Israeli forces plan to invade the Palestinian city which is in the southern Gaza Strip within "hours".

“I think [Israel] is very close to [carrying out] their attack on [Rafah]. I think during maybe the next couple of hours, maybe we will hear the news that they will start their operation in Rafah. I don't know when, but I think it will be very, very soon,” said Gomaa. “That's why they need to close any media that can cover or can reflect what will happen on the ground, [because it] would, frankly, not be any complement to the Israeli government.”

Sputnik’s Angie Wong noted that Israeli officials raided Al Jazeera’s offices in addition to shutting down their production, and that such an act may signal that the office contained what Israeli officials view as a matter of national security endangerment.

The office they raided was a Jerusalem hotel room being used by Al Jazeera for their production. A video shared online showed officers dressed in plain clothes dismantling camera equipment in a hotel room in East Jerusalem.

“The last thing coming from the international Committee [to Protect Journalists] is that they are condemning this decision from the Israeli government,” Gomaa said. “But this is the first time we [have] heard of Israel, or any Western country suppressing the coverage, especially around the time of the war or any military action or something like this.”

Cindy McCain, the director of World Food Programme, said that there is a “full-blown famine” in northern Gaza, and it is making its way into the South. The United Nations has been warning since mid-March that a famine is “imminent” in Gaza. McCain said a ceasefire in Gaza is necessary so that people can be fed in a “much faster fashion.”

Sputnik’s Ted Rall suggested that Israeli officials put in place several unnecessary delays, including inspections, to prevent food and other equipment from reaching the Palestinians.

“The famine starts from the blockade of the Israeli government, from many across the border with Egypt, with Jordan. And they stopped a lot of military assistance because they said that they have to search for any military equipment or any guns or something like that. That's why we see this famine,” Gomaa explained.

“The Israeli government uses the famine as an arm against the Palestinians, and it's a punishment for the Palestinians,” he added. “[But if] Hamas is in the tunnels and their fighters are hiding in the tunnels, [then] why [do the] Israeli blockade the assistance? Why does the US military drop assistance from air?"