Israeli forces take over Rafah border crossing
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Israeli forces seized control of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt yesterday and tanks pushed into the southern Gazan city of Rafah as global mediators struggled to find agreement on a ceasefire between Israel and its Hamas foe.
Hamas accused Israel of trying to undermine the truce talks taking place in Cairo by mounting the offensive.
International aid agencies said the closing of the two main crossings into the southern Gaza Strip, Rafah and Kerem Shalom, had virtually cut off the Palestinian enclave from outside aid, with very few stores available inside.
Israeli Army Radio announced its forces had taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing yesterday morning and army footage showed tanks rolling through the complex and the Israeli flag raised on the Gaza side.
Despite international appeals for Israel to hold off an assault on Rafah, Israeli tanks and planes also attacked several areas and houses there overnight. The Gaza health ministry said Israeli strikes had killed 54 Palestinians and wounded 96 others in the past 24 hours.
More than 1 million people have sought refuge in Rafah, living in tented camps and makeshift shelters. Many are trying to leave, heeding Israeli orders for them to evacuate, but with large areas of the coastal enclave already laid to waste, they have nowhere safe to go to.
The Israeli military said a limited operation in Rafah was meant to kill fighters and dismantle infrastructure used by Hamas, which governs Gaza.
Hamas said late on Monday it had agreed to a ceasefire proposal but Israel said the terms did not meet its demands. Yesterday, the group said Israel’s Rafah incursion was aimed at undermining ceasefire efforts.
Mediator Egypt also said the Rafah operation threatened the ceasefire efforts, and the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, warned that a wider assault on Rafah would cause many civilian casualties.
Israel has for weeks threatened to mount a major incursion in Rafah, which it says harbors thousands of Hamas fighters and where potentially dozens of hostages are being held. Victory over Hamas is impossible without taking Rafah, it says.
A total of 34,789 Palestinians, most of then civilians, have now been killed in the conflict, the Gaza health ministry said.
The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and abducting about 250 others, of whom 133 are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
A Gaza border authority spokesperson said the Rafah crossing, a vital route for aid into the devastated enclave, was now closed. Red Crescent sources in Egypt said aid shipments had completely halted at Rafah and at the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing.
“The Israeli occupation has sentenced the residents of the Strip to death,” said Hisham Edwan, spokesperson for the Gaza Border Crossing Authority.
The United States and other governments have been pressing Israel not to start a campaign in Rafah until it had drawn up a humanitarian plan for the Palestinians sheltering there.
Israel said most people had been evacuated from the area of military operations and it has told them to go to what it calls an “expanded humanitarian zone” around 20 kilometers away.
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