WATCH: Rafah exposed: The gateway of terror

Join IDF Sergeant Major Chaim Malespin as he reflects on the term "All Eyes on Rafah."

It's a phrase that's gaining traction, and rightly so. Rafah isn't just a crossing point; it's a festering hub of geopolitical strife and rampant chaos. Let's delve into why Rafah demands our unrelenting scrutiny.

Click above to watch the video or read the transcript below.

Shalom. Sgt. Major Chaim Malespin coming at you from our nation's capital, Jerusalem. Yes, I'm on a little break, but I got my uniform on.

I'm going back quite soon. And you hear the phrase everywhere, "All Eyes on Rafah. This phrase is gaining traction, and rightly so. Rafah isn't just the crossing point, it's something that we got to put all of our attention on. It's a festering hub of geopolitical strife and rampant chaos, a festering hub of terror. Look how many tunnels we found. Let's delve into why we need to put our undivided scrutiny on Rafah, and why we have to focus on winning there to win this war.

Rafah has for a long, long time been infamous as a gateway for Hamas terrorists. Where did they get all the weapons from? How come every house... every kid's bed...has RPGs and mortars and missiles and bombs under the beds? How come under every hospital mosque? What's going on there? Thirty-four hospitals, all filled with weapons. They're not getting it from the Israel side. Okay.

A recent conflict that we see really amplifies the harsh truth, the harsh reality. Had the world been a little more vigilant earlier, even Israel, had we been more vigilant, we would have choked off the smuggling routes. All these tunnels. Look how many tunnels we found – saving countless lives. Every single time you get on social media, you see another tunnel that we found going to Egypt. If the world had given Netanyahu some backing, some encouragement to go on a preemptive strike on the 6th of October, okay, we wouldn't have had the 7th of October, would we have? If the world wasn't at peace with Hamas – supporting Hamas a terrorist entity, so much – You see all those Hamas flags as a governing entity of Gaza, ee wouldn't be where we are right now.

Brutal attacks on Israeli civilians, the bombings, the ever-present threat, hailstorm of rockets, many unrelenting hailstorms. Many of these horrors could have been evaded – we could have averted, curbed, with a timely management over Rafah and the Philadelphia corridor. Right? And just making sure the weapons don't come in. Rafah is also Egypt's shadowy edge of maneuvering. Remember, the Muslim Brotherhood started – and Hamas is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood – in Egypt. And they have this shadowy maneuvering through tunnels, through covert enforcement and rearming of Hamas to make their terrorist networks flourish throughout Gaza. Okay.

We just found about 50 tunnels in the Egyptian border of Rafah. More stringent global scrutiny should have been on this area. People like the UN, and so on. And all these secretive plots shouldn't have snowballed so much. I mean, we should have had better Intel – that's on all of us, okay – before the 7th of October. But I gotta remind you, Egypt is an ally of the U.S., has a peace treaty with Israel, and still we're seeing all this going on under our noses. What is going on? You know, and so I hope that when we say all eyes on Rafah, all eyes of the world on Rafah, that they're seeing what we're seeing and they know why we have to be there, why we have to put an end to this seemingly unending cycle.

What about the hostages? Innocent Israeli civilians – some children – women trapped in this nightmare, facing unimaginable ordeals. Take the Bibas family, those two young redhead kids – Ariel and Kfir Bibas – you know, snatched from their home, held in a dark, damp cell – a tunnel of darkness and despair. Their story is one of many, but hey, if all eyes of the world are on Rafah, are we remembering them? Maybe they're under Rafa. I mean, we've really really looked throughout Gaza. There's still more places to look in Gaza, but it's got to be there. Unless they're already gone from Gaza entirely.

Families have been torn apart, living in perpetual fear. Okay. And maybe they found some solace in the international community if they would have acted sooner. The fact they didn't act sooner, it's almost like the international community, the free world, in a way – it feels like they let us down – but there's a chance here to come together. Also, Hamas command centers in Rafah, we have to destroy the Hamas.

Where is Yahya Sinwar, Mohammad Deif, military commander? Okay. They operate with impunity there. That's the real Rafah, a hub of terror. And we've taken Rafah now, you know, we've gone in, we've taken the city. We've got a lot of work to do to uncover the terror network, the terror organization that's under the city that took over Gaza City, that took over the whole of that territory. I got news for you. Hamas was voted in and still has overwhelming support by the Gazan population. So do you have all eyes on Rafah?

Great. What about an eye on Tehran that sponsored Hamas, too? How did the weapons get purchased? Where did the money come from? Came from all over, but also through Qatar, who provides the shield for the Hamas leaders in their country. It's all coming out. It's all coming out right now. Shout it from the roof. What was in secret – in a secret tunnel – is now shattered from the rooftops. The world needs to focus now on Rafah. It needs to hear the silent screams of these hostages for mercy to be liberated. Let my people go. The pleas for justice, the cries for peace. Yeah. Don't support Hamas and say you're a social justice warrior. There's a desperate call now for the international community and it can't fall on silent ears again

This silence isn't just ignorance. It's a deliberate disregard for Israeli suffering – for the suffering of these children under rocket fire, mortar fire all the time. My guys are dying, but we're not going to give up. And I say, fix your eyes on Rafah, the true hub of terror where the last battalion of Hamas are. How we got here? What happened along the way? We're figuring it out, but we've got to make a path out.