This is CBSI on the world.

I'm John Batchel with Seth Franzman of the Jerusalem Post,

the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies,

where you can find his postings at the Long War Journal.

Frequently, Seth is always there filing on the war that is moving quickly now to another phase,

but we're staying with what we've learned in the Gaza War.

The book is the October 7 War.

We come to Rafa in the south.

All of us have experience with Rafa.

I was in Rafa in 2004 with the IDF when the Philadelphia corridor was a barrier.

And there were guard posts along the way. And it was my memory of the Golanian Brigade and the D-9s clearing a pathway outside.

They were still building it. And my guardpost came under attack. The Hamas or whatever they were out there opened fire.

This is before Hamas took over the hole of Gaza.

But they were gunmen.

And the IDF just went to their firing holes and opened up back.

The only time I've ever stood in the middle of a firefight not knowing quite what to do,

I remember it vividly.

Rafa is a wrecked town, half in

Egypt, half in Gaza. Yet we've discovered underneath tunnels. Now, the big question is, were those

tunnels the explanation for the arming of Hamas and the transfer of people in and out of Gaza. There's a new question

about that because many of the tunnels are closed down or not used, and there is the Rafa crossing.

Seth, they're debating this all the time now, and we've talked about it. Is there a resolution

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