‘Operation Rainbow’ ended on May 24 as most of the Israeli army forces left Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
“The operation’s goals were to hit terror infrastructures in Rafah, and mainly to discover tunnels used to smuggle weapons – in this regard, the operation certainly achieved its goals,” said commander of the Israeli army forces in the Gaza Strip, Shmuel Zakai.
During the operation, which received worldwide coverage, the Israeli army discovered three tunnels used for smuggling weapons. According to Zakai, the operation managed to prevent a large weapons delivery from Iran and Hizbullah, which was meant to arrive in Gaza. The delivery, said Zakai, consisted of anti-tank missiles and RPG rockets, and is still waiting on the other side of the Israeli-Egyptian border.
The Palestinians are saying the Rafah operation resulted in a humanitarian crisis, with hundreds of houses demolished. Israeli military sources however, are saying that according to their information, 56 houses were demolished during the operation for a number of reasons: houses from which terrorists opened fire on soldiers; homes of known terrorists; houses used for digging tunnels; and areas that had been booby-trapped by Palestinians.
Zakai denied allegations of a humanitarian crisis, saying, “One of our considerations was to enable the entry of food and medicine, and to repair the city’s infrastructure. To the best of my knowledge there is no state of hunger in Rafah.”
It is also reported that Egyptian head of Intelligence ‘Umar Suleiman met Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yassir Arafat on Monday. During the two (separate) meetings, it was agreed that Egypt will be involved in the security arrangements in the Gaza Strip and the ‘Philadelphi road’ along the border, after the Israeli withdrawal.