There is, as Ecclesiastes reminded us, a time for war and a time for peace. In its 76-year history, Israel has rarely selected the time for war, almost always reinforcing its position and responding in self-defence to Arab attacks. The invasion of Rafah will be another such tragic chapter in the tragic history of the Jewish state. Hamas has made it a time for war.

The tanks went in after volleys of rockets were fired by Hamas

Has it started already? Last night, Israeli tanks entered the southern town after a last-ditch ceasefire proposal from Hamas was rejected as inadequate. But the operation has so far fallen short of a full invasion. The Israeli Defence Forces took control of the Gazan side of the Rafah Crossing on the Egyptian border as part of a ‘pinpoint operation’ against the terror group in ‘limited areas of eastern Rafah,’ the IDF said, after ‘intelligence information [suggested] that terrorists were using the crossing area for terror purposes.’ Before the attack, the IDF said it had carried out ‘coordination with the international organisations operating in the area, with a request to move towards the humanitarian area as part of the effort to evacuate the population that has been taking place.’

The tanks went in after volleys of rockets were fired by Hamas from the Rafah crossing at Kerem Shalom in southern Israel, killing four soldiers and wounding others. The terror group then appeared to back off from its game of chicken by making a surprise offer of a ceasefire; according to the New York Times, however, the 33 elderly, infirm and child captives that it offered to release – which had been reduced from 40 because seven had been killed – included several bodies. This depravity, combined with the audacious rocket attack, forced Israel’s........

© The Spectator