Israeli military seizes Rafah border crossing and increases attacks in southern Gaza Strip

By Mohammad Salem and Nidal al-Mughrabi

RAFAH, Gaza Strip/CAIRO – The Israeli military took control of the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on Tuesday and its tanks advanced into the southern Gaza town of Rafah after a night of airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave.

The Israeli offensive came as mediators struggled to reach a ceasefire agreement between Israel and its Hamas opponents and as the conflict entered its eighth month.

The Palestinian militant group said late Monday it had agreed to a ceasefire proposal, but Israel said the conditions did not meet its demands.

Amid international concern over the fate of civilians crowded into Rafah, Israeli tanks and aircraft attacked several areas and homes there overnight.

On Tuesday morning, people searched for bodies among the rubble of destroyed buildings. A body was taken away for burial, wrapped in a white shroud.

Raed al-Derby said his wife and children were killed.

As he stood in the street, fear etched across his face, he told Reuters: “We are patient and we will stand firm in this country. We are waiting for liberation and this fight will be for liberation, God willing.”

More than a million people have sought refuge in Rafah and are living in tent camps and makeshift shelters. Many are trying to escape, following Israeli evacuation orders, but with large parts of the coastal enclave already devastated, they say they have no safe place to go.

The Israeli military said a limited operation in Rafah was intended to kill militants and destroy infrastructure used by Hamas, which rules the besieged Palestinian territory.

Egypt said the Israeli operation in Rafah jeopardized ceasefire efforts and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the attack would be deadly for civilians.

“I fear that this will again cause a lot of casualties, civilian casualties,” he told reporters. “There are no safe zones in Gaza.”

Israel has been threatening for weeks a major incursion into Rafah, where thousands of Hamas fighters are said to be taking refuge and where dozens of hostages may be held. It is said that without the capture of Rafah, a victory over Hamas would be impossible.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, a total of 34,789 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have now been killed in the conflict.

The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and kidnapping about 250 others, of whom 133 are believed to remain captive in Gaza, according to Israeli sources.

RAFAH CROSS CLOSED

A spokesman for the Gaza Border Authority told Reuters that the Rafah crossing, a key relief route into the devastated enclave, was closed due to the presence of Israeli tanks.

Israeli Army Radio had announced earlier that its troops were there, and army footage showed tanks rolling through the border crossing and the Israeli flag being raised on the Gaza side.

Red Crescent sources in Egypt said aid to Gaza had stopped completely in Rafah and at the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom border crossing.

The United States and other foreign governments have urged Israel not to launch a campaign in Rafah until it develops a humanitarian plan for the Palestinians housed there.

“The Israeli occupation sentenced residents of the Strip to death after the closure of the Rafah crossing,” said Hisham Edwan, spokesman for the Gaza Border Crossing Authority.

Israel said the vast majority of people had been evacuated from the area of ​​military operations and told them to move to a so-called “enhanced humanitarian zone” about 20 km (12 miles) away.

Palestinian families loaded children and belongings onto donkey carts and pickup trucks or walked through the muddy streets. Abdullah Al-Najar said this was the fourth time he had been displaced since fighting began in October.

“God knows where we will go now. We haven’t decided yet,” he said.

Ceasefire talks in Cairo

As ceasefire talks stalled, mediator Qatar said its delegation would travel to Cairo on Tuesday to resume indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

Hamas said in a statement on Monday that its chief Ismail Haniyeh had informed Qatari and Egyptian mediators that the group had accepted their proposal for a ceasefire.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office later said the proposal did not meet Israel’s demands, but that Israel would send a delegation to meet with negotiators and try to reach an agreement.

Netanyahu’s war cabinet has approved the continuation of an operation in Rafah, his office said.

An Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the proposal accepted by Hamas was a watered-down version of an Egyptian offer and contained elements that Israel could not accept.

Another official said Hamas had agreed to the phased ceasefire and hostage release agreement proposed by Israel on April 27, with only minor changes that did not affect the main parts of the proposal.

A Palestinian official involved in mediation efforts told Reuters that a Hamas delegation could arrive in Cairo later on Tuesday or Wednesday to discuss the ceasefire.

Any ceasefire would be the first pause in fighting since a week-long truce in November in which Hamas freed about half of the hostages and Israel released 240 Palestinians it was holding in its prisons.

Since then, all efforts for a new ceasefire have failed due to Hamas’s refusal to release more hostages without promising a permanent end to the conflict and Israel’s insistence on discussing only a temporary pause.

(Reporting by Reuters offices; Writing by Angus MacSwan, Editing by Ros Russell)