Bold and Blunt: Hamas stands defiant as IDF prepares Rafah assault

Avi Melamed, former intelligence official and author of "Inside the Middle East: Entering a New Era," said the governments of the West needed to realize that the IDF's mission in Rafah was complicated, but necessary.

The Jewish nation, he said, was doing everything possible to evacuate civilians and protect them from harm, while Hamas was simply using them as shields and exploiting them to score political wins and generate sympathy from the West.