Israel takes control of vital Rafah border crossing

CAIRO (AP) — Israeli tanks took control of the vital Rafah border crossing in Gaza on Tuesday, as Israel ignored urgent warnings from its allies and advanced toward the southern city, even as ceasefire negotiations with Hamas they were still on the knife’s edge.

The UN has warned of a possible collapse in the flow of aid to Palestinians from the closure of Rafah and the other main crossing into Gaza, Kerem Shalom, at a time when officials say the northern part of the enclave is already experiencing a “famine.” In all rules”.

The Israeli incursion occurred after hours of tensions in the war between Israel and Hamas, where the insurgent group said the day before that it accepted the ceasefire proposal mediated by Egypt and Qatar. Israel, for its part, insisted that this agreement did not satisfy its main demands.

The high-level diplomatic initiative and military maneuvers gave a glimmer of hope, albeit small, to close a pact that could at least pause the seven months of war that has left more than 34,700 Palestinians dead, according to local authorities in health, and devastated Gaza.

The nighttime raid did not appear to be the all-out offensive on Rafah that Israel had prepared, but it is currently unknown whether it will be expanded. The impending operation threatens to widen a rift between Israel and its main ally, the United States, which says it is concerned about the fate of around 1.3 million Palestinians crammed into the city.

US President Joe Biden again warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday against launching an offensive in Rafah after Israel ordered 100,000 Palestinians to leave parts of that city.

Cheers of joy among Palestinians in Rafah overnight over Hamas’s acceptance of the ceasefire turned to fear on Tuesday. Families fled in a steady stream from Rafah’s eastern neighborhoods on foot or in vehicles and donkey carts loaded with mattresses and supplies. Children watched as parents took down tents in the sprawling camps that have filled Rafah for months to move to their next destination, which for many is uncertain.

“Netanyahu only cares about getting to the top. He doesn’t care about children. “I don’t think he would agree” to a deal, Najwa al-Saksuk said as his family packed their bags. The Israeli attacks echoed and raised columns of black smoke.

Israel says that Hamas’s remaining battalions are in Rafah, and that it is necessary to take the city to defeat that group. Humanitarian aid groups say an attack would be catastrophic for the nearly 1.4 million Palestinians sheltering there from Israel’s crackdown on the rest of the territory.

Israel’s 401st Brigade entered the Rafah crossing early Tuesday, the army said, and took “operational control” of the crucial crossing. Images distributed by the army showed a tank entering the pass. The details of the video matched the known characteristics of the place.

The Rafah crossing with Egypt and the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel are critical entry points for food, medicine and other supplies that keep Gaza’s population of 2.3 million alive. They have been closed for at least two days, although the smaller Erez crossing, between Israel and northern Gaza, continues to operate.

Israeli authorities on Tuesday denied the U.N. humanitarian affairs office access to the Rafah crossing, its spokesman Jens Laerke said, warning that the disruption could disrupt the fragile aid operation. All fuel for aid trucks and generators comes through Rafah, and Laerke said they have “a very, very short reserve of about a day of fuel.”

“If fuel does not arrive for an extended period, it would be a very effective way to take the humanitarian operation to the grave,” he said.

Israel also carried out a series of attacks and bombings on Rafah overnight that killed at least 23 Palestinians.

The Israeli military said it captured the crossing after receiving intelligence that it was “being used for terrorist purposes,” but did not immediately offer evidence to support that claim, although it maintained that the area near the crossing had been used to launch a mortar attack that killed four of his soldiers and wounded others near the Kerem Shalom Pass on Sunday.

According to the military, ground troops and airstrikes hit suspected Hamas positions in Rafah.

Wael Abu Omar, spokesman for the Palestinian authority responsible for the crossings, acknowledged that Israeli forces had taken the step and closed the facilities for the moment. Airstrikes have been hitting the area around the crossing since Monday, he added.

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry condemned the seizure of the crossing, calling it “a dangerous escalation.”

Egypt had previously warned that the seizure of Rafah — which is supposed to be part of a demilitarized border zone — or any attack that causes Palestinians to flee across the border could jeopardize the 1979 peace agreement with Israel, which It has been one of the pillars of regional security.

The operation in Rafah has also aggravated differences between Netanyahu and Biden over the conduct of the war. Netanyahu says the offensive on the city — which Israel says is Hamas’s last major stronghold in the territory — is key to his goal of destroying the group following its Oct. 7 cross-border attack.

In that unprecedented Hamas raid, the insurgents killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 hostage. Israeli critics say Netanyahu is worried about the survival of his government, since his more conservative coalition partners could back out if he signs a deal that prevents the attack on Rafah.

An Egyptian official and a Western diplomat noted that the draft accepted by Hamas contained minor changes in wording from the version previously suggested by the United States, which Israel had approved. The modifications were made in consultation with CIA Director William Burns, who approved the draft before sending it to the insurgent group, said the sources, who asked not to be identified to discuss internal discussions.

The White House said Burns was discussing Hamas’s response with the Israelis and other regional leaders.

According to a copy released by Hamas after accepting the proposal, the document contemplates the phased release of the hostages along with the gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from the entire enclave, and the process would end with a “sustainable calm,” which is defined as a “permanent cessation of military and hostile operations.”

In the first phase of the ceasefire, which would last 42 days, Hamas would release 33 hostages – including women, minors, the elderly and the sick – in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails, and the army would partially withdraw from some parts of the Strip. The parties would then negotiate the terms of the next phase, which would include the release of the remaining civilians and soldiers captured by the insurgents, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the rest of Gaza.

Hamas has demanded an end to the war and Israel’s complete withdrawal in exchange for the release of all hostages. Publicly, Israeli leaders have repeatedly rejected those conditions and have pledged to continue their campaign until the group’s destruction.