Operation Rainbow (2004 Israeli Operation in Rafah)

By May 2004, Israeli military officials viewed the Philadelphi Corridor — a narrow strip of land running along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt — as a key route used by Palestinian terrorist groups to smuggle weapons into Gaza.[1] IDF reporting said tunnels beneath the corridor were being used to bring in RPG rockets, light ammunition, and Kalashnikov rifles, with concern that longer-range rockets could eventually threaten Israeli communities including Sderot and Ashkelon.[2] Palestinian terrorist groups were also firing mortars and antitank weapons, sometimes from civilian areas, and using or booby-trapping civilian homes.[5]

The immediate trigger for the operation was a series of devastating attacks on Israeli forces in the preceding week. Six Givati Brigade soldiers were killed when an armored personnel carrier exploded in Gaza's Zeitoun neighborhood.[3] Within 24 hours, an RPG struck an APC on the Philadelphi Corridor near Rafah, killing the vehicle's officer and four soldiers; two more soldiers were killed during the recovery effort.[3] Altogether, 13 Israeli soldiers died in these incidents.[3] Planning for an anti-tunnel operation in the Gaza Division had, according to reporting, already been underway before the first explosion; the preceding attacks brought additional forces into the area and enabled a larger operation to be mounted.[6] The operation was planned by Southern Brigade commander Pinchas "Pinky" Zuarz and initially assigned to the Givati Brigade reconnaissance battalion.[6]

Before the operation began, the IDF isolated Rafah from the rest of the Gaza Strip in a preparatory action called "Glass Spider," and thousands of residents were reported to have fled the area.[2] The main operation commenced in the early hours of May 18, 2004, with forces entering the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood in northwestern Rafah, where many wanted individuals were reported to be located.[2] Units involved included the Golani Brigade, the Egoz unit, the Desert Reconnaissance Battalion, the Givati Brigade, the Shimshon infantry battalion, and a tank brigade.[2][7]

Forces conducted house-to-house searches and engaged in exchanges of fire with Palestinian gunmen throughout the neighborhood.[2] Armored Caterpillar D9 bulldozers were used to demolish homes suspected of concealing tunnels.[8] At the conclusion of the operation on May 24, Gaza Division commander Brig. Gen. Shmuel Zakai reported that Israeli forces had located three tunnels used to smuggle arms from Egypt into the Strip and had damaged 56 buildings. He categorized them as structures used to fire on soldiers, buildings cleared because of large explosive devices, and buildings linked to tunnels or to terrorist operatives connected to the attack on Tali Hatuel and her four daughters.[6][2]

The operation's most internationally visible incident occurred on May 19, when tank shells exploded near demonstrators in the Rafah refugee camp. Palestinian sources initially reported 22 people killed and dozens injured in the incident; a figure of eight dead was later attributed to an Israeli military officer.[9] IDF officials described the tank fire as warning shots directed at a nearby abandoned building, denied firing into the crowd, and stated that armed gunmen were present among the demonstrators.[1][10] Palestinian accounts disputed the claim that gunmen were present, and the State Department's 2004 human-rights report stated that there was no evidence to substantiate it.[1] The IDF subsequently expressed deep sorrow and regret over the loss of civilian lives, and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said the incident could have been avoided.[10]

Also on May 18, 16-year-old Asma al-Mughayr and her 13-year-old brother were shot in the head on the roof terrace of their home while doing household chores.[1] Amnesty International concluded that IDF snipers were responsible; Israeli army officials suggested the two were killed by a Palestinian explosive device.[1] No further official investigation had been reported by year's end.[1]

The operation ended on May 24, with Israeli forces withdrawing from Tel al-Sultan and the Brazil neighborhood, restoring the connection between Rafah and Khan Younis.[10] Senior Southern Command officers stated that Rafah would remain an area of military activity and that forces could return when intelligence indicated a tunnel was being dug.[10]

Casualty figures for Operation Rainbow vary across sources and reflect different counting methodologies. The U.S. Department of State's 2004 human-rights report recorded more than 40 Palestinians killed, including civilians.[1] The 2009 UN Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict placed the total at approximately 50 Palestinians dead.[4] The Israeli military's final tally, as reported by Ynet and attributed to Gaza Division commander Zakai, listed 53 Palestinians killed: 41 described as terrorists and 12 as civilians.[6] The commander stated that seven civilians were killed in the shelling of the demonstration and that the circumstances surrounding five other deaths remained under examination, with the possibility that they were shot by Palestinians.[6] A 2014 Times of Israel account described approximately 40 terrorists killed during the week-long operation, with no Israeli fatalities during that phase.[7]

On the humanitarian side, UNRWA and OCHA assessed that the operation destroyed 298 buildings and left 3,794 people homeless.[1] Human Rights Watch reported that IDF actions destroyed more than half of Rafah's roads and damaged elements of the city's water, sewage, and electrical systems.[1] B'Tselem was reported to have said that 62 homes were destroyed in two days and 740 people left homeless; the IDF rejected that account, and Zakai stated that some images presented as recent showed homes destroyed during the preceding three years.[10] Rights groups petitioned Israel's High Court seeking ambulance and medical-supply access, evacuation of the wounded, and restoration of basic services; the army's representative maintained that medicines were entering Rafah, and Zakai denied that a humanitarian disaster was occurring.[10]

For broader context, the State Department report noted that approximately 1,500 buildings had been demolished by the IDF in Rafah since 2000, leaving more than 15,000 Palestinians homeless — figures that encompass the entire period and are not limited to Operation Rainbow.[1]

On May 19, 2004 — the same day as the demonstration incident — the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1544 by a vote of 14 to 0, with the United States abstaining.[11] The resolution expressed grave concern about Palestinians made homeless in the Rafah area, called for emergency humanitarian assistance, and called on Israel to respect its international humanitarian-law obligations, specifically its obligation not to demolish homes contrary to that law.[11]

The operation's international repercussions extended to Israeli-Turkish relations. On May 20, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan delivered a formal demarche characterizing Israeli actions in Rafah as "state terrorism."[12] A July 2004 analysis by The Washington Institute for Near East Policy described the statement as a sign of a potential crisis in bilateral ties, noting that Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party had adopted an increasingly critical tone toward Israel and that Jerusalem risked losing the confidence of Turkish supporters of close bilateral relations.[12]

A 2009 petition to Israel's High Court of Justice sought an inquiry into the 2004 Rafah operation, among others, but the court declined to order one.[13] The UN Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, reporting in 2009, cited Operation Rainbow among earlier IDF operations in Rafah and stated that it left approximately 50 Palestinians dead.[4]

In a presentation delivered on June 23, 2004, Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin described the operation's security rationale and the ethical dilemmas it posed for Israeli forces. Yadlin argued that intelligence indicated weapons-smuggling capabilities significant enough to change the security situation in Gaza and that the threat included the potential introduction of rockets capable of reaching Israeli communities.[14] He stated that the IDF sought to minimize civilian harm by warning residents to leave and attempting to move them before fighting began.[14]

Yadlin also recounted an incident in which two Israeli soldiers were killed by Palestinian snipers while attempting to bring water to an elderly Palestinian woman, invoking it as an illustration of the ethical tensions troops faced during the operation.[14] Regarding the Philadelphi Corridor, Yadlin described it as Israeli-controlled territory under an agreement with Egypt, but noted that Israel had not exercised full authority across its width because Palestinians lived there, with the area under Palestinian Authority control having narrowed to as little as 70 meters in some places.[14]

A survey conducted by the May 2004 Peace Index, cited in academic research by Daniel Bar-Tal and Keren Sharvit, found that 70% of Israeli Jews opposed offering compensation for damages resulting from the Rafah operation; among those asked about Palestinians who lost homes and property, 40% reported feeling no sympathy, 26% were indifferent, and 28% expressed sympathy.[15]

Several aspects of Operation Rainbow remain disputed across contemporary and retrospective accounts. Casualty figures differ materially: the State Department reported more than 40 Palestinian deaths, the UN Fact-Finding Mission estimated approximately 50, and the Israeli military's tally stood at 53, with different descriptions of the number of civilians and terrorists killed.[1][4][6] Figures for buildings affected also vary — UNRWA and OCHA assessed 298 destroyed, while the IDF commander's end-of-operation report cited 56 damaged. The sources do not establish whether the gap reflects different definitions, scopes, or time periods.[1][6]

The circumstances of the May 19 demonstration deaths are disputed: IDF officials maintained that the tank fired warning shots at an abandoned building and that armed individuals were present in the crowd, while Palestinian accounts rejected the claim about gunmen, and the State Department found no evidence to support it.[1][10] The killing of the two siblings on May 18 is similarly unresolved, with Amnesty International and Israeli military officials offering contradictory explanations and no confirmed subsequent investigation.[1] The launch date is also reported differently: the State Department gives May 17, while Ynet dates the launch of Operation Rainbow itself to the early hours of May 18.[1][2]