Israeli tanks attack the Rafah checkpoint

The Israeli army announced on Tuesday that it had taken control of the Palestinian section of the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt and that ground troops had begun a “targeted operation” in eastern Rafah.

“At the moment, special forces are combing the Rafah crossing, “we have operational control over that area,” the Israeli army confirmed, clarifying that it was speaking “only on the Gaza side of the crossing.” .

As Israel hammered home for months its intention to launch a large-scale ground offensive on Rafah, the overpopulated southern Gaza Strip site where, according to Tel Aviv, the last Hamas battalions are hiding, the Israeli military hammered home on Tuesday that the operation was localized and limited in scope. volume.

The Israeli military declined to say how long the operation would last.

Israel and Hamas were expected in Egypt on Tuesday, after the Palestinian Islamist movement announced it had accepted a truce plan, which would notably allow for a seven-month cessation of fighting in the Gaza Strip and the exchange of Palestinian detainees for hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7.

US President Joe Biden on Monday again warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against launching an invasion of the city after Israel ordered 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate eastern parts of Rafah.

Israel’s 401st Brigade entered the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing early Tuesday, the Israeli military said, taking “operational control” of the key border point.

The Rafah crossing and the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza – the two main routes of aid into the besieged territory – were closed for at least two days.

Although smaller entry points are still operational, the closure is a major blow to efforts to keep the flow of food, medicine and other supplies that keep Gaza’s population alive at a time when officials say the northern part of the enclave is already experiencing a real hunger crisis.”

Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA, said Israeli authorities had denied him access to the Rafah crossing. He warned that disruptions in Rafah could cut short the fragile aid operation, saying all the fuel that sustains humanitarian work goes through the crossing.

“This will push this crisis into unprecedented levels of need, including the very real possibility of starvation,” he said.

The Israeli army “disregards all warnings about what this could mean for civilians and for the humanitarian operation in the Gaza Strip.”

The military also carried out a series of attacks and shelling in Rafah overnight, killing at least 23 Palestinians, including at least six women and five children, according to hospital records seen by The Associated Press.

Muhammad Abu Amra said his wife and two brothers, a sister and a niece were killed when their attack leveled them while they were sleeping.

The Israeli military claimed, without providing any evidence for its allegations, that it seized the Rafah crossing after receiving information that it was being “used for terrorist purposes.”

A spokesman for Egypt’s foreign ministry declined to immediately comment on Israel’s seizure of the crossing. Egypt has previously warned that any seizure of Rafah – which is supposed to be part of the demilitarized border zone – or an attack that forces Palestinians to flee to Egypt would threaten the 1979 peace accord with Israel, a pillar of regional security.

Israel’s plans to attack Rafah also raise fears of a dramatic rise in civilian deaths in a campaign of bombings and offensives that have killed more than 34,700 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.