Israeli tanks took control of the vital Rafah border crossing in Gaza on Tuesday, as Israel ignored urgent warnings from its close allies and advanced towards the southern city, even as ceasefire negotiations with Hamas continued. razor’s edge.
The raid came after hours of turmoil in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, with Hamas saying on Monday it accepted a ceasefire proposal brokered by Egypt and Qatar. Israel, however, insisted that the agreement did not meet its fundamental demands.
High-stakes diplomatic moves and military brinkmanship left a glimmer of hope alive, albeit barely, for a deal that could bring at least a pause to the seven-month conflict that has devastated the Gaza Strip.
The overnight Israeli incursion appeared to fall short of the full-blown Rafah offensive that Israel has planned, and it was not immediately known whether it would be expanded. The impending operation has raised global alarm over the fate of around 1.3 million Palestinians crammed into the city and threatens to widen a rift between Israel and its main backer, the United States.
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 areas of Rafah.
The Israeli 401st Brigade entered the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing early Tuesday, the Israeli military said, taking “operational control” of the crucial border point. Images released by the army showed Israeli flags flying from tanks that took over the area. The details in the video matched the known characteristics of the crossing.
Both the Rafah crossing and the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza – the two main aid entry routes into the besieged territory – have been closed for at least the past two days. Although smaller entry points still operate, the closure is a blow to efforts to maintain 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 “total explosion.” famine.”
Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the U.N. humanitarian affairs office known as OCHA, said Israeli authorities have denied him access to the Rafah crossing. He warned that the disruption in Rafah could break the fragile aid operation, saying that all the fuel that keeps humanitarian work going passes through the crossing.
“It will plunge this crisis into unprecedented levels of need, including the very real possibility of famine,” he said. The Israeli military “is ignoring all warnings about what this could mean for civilians and for the humanitarian operation throughout the Gaza Strip.”
The army also carried out a series of attacks and bombings 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.
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Mohamed Abu Amra said his wife, two brothers, his sister and his niece were killed when an attack leveled their home while they were sleeping. “We did not do anything. … We don’t have Hamas,” he said. “We found fire devouring us. The house was turned upside down.”
The Israeli military claimed that it seized the Rafah crossing after receiving information that it was “being used for terrorist purposes.” The military did not immediately provide evidence to support the claim, although it said Hamas fighters near the crossing launched a mortar attack that killed four Israeli soldiers and wounded others near Kerem Shalom on Sunday.
The military also said ground troops and airstrikes targeted suspected Hamas positions in Rafah.
An Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman declined to immediately comment on the Israeli seizure of the crossing.
Egypt has previously warned that any seizure of Rafah, which is supposed to be part of a demilitarized border zone, or an attack that forces Palestinians to flee across the border into Egypt would threaten the 1979 peace treaty with Israel that has been an axis for regional security. .
Israel’s plans to attack Rafah have also raised fears of a dramatic rise in civilian deaths in a campaign of bombings and offensives that has killed more than 34,700 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. The attack devastated large swathes of territory and left people struggling for food, water and medicine.
The Rafah operation has also deepened the division between Netanyahu and Biden over the conduct of the conflict. Netanyahu says attacking Rafah, which Israel says is the last major Hamas stronghold in the territory, is crucial to the goal of destroying Hamas after its Oct. 1 attack. 7 attack on southern Israel.
In that unprecedented Hamas raid, the militants killed about 1,200 people and took another 250 hostage back to Gaza. Israeli critics say Netanyahu is worried about the survival of his government, as his hardline coalition partners could flee if he signs a deal before an invasion of Rafah.
In their call on Monday, Biden told Netanyahu that a ceasefire agreement was the best way to achieve the return of the hostages still being held by Hamas, believed to number around 100, along with the bodies of about 30. people more.
When Israel announced it would press ahead with operations in Rafah, it said the ceasefire proposal Hamas agreed to did not meet its “fundamental demands.” But she said she would send a delegation to Egypt to continue negotiations.
An Egyptian official and a Western diplomat said the draft accepted by Hamas had only minor wording changes from a version the United States had previously pushed with Israeli approval. The changes were made in consultation with CIA chief William Burns, who accepted the draft before sending it to the Palestinian group, the diplomat and official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The White House said Burns was discussing Hamas’s response with Israelis and other regional officials.
According to a copy released by Hamas after its acceptance, the proposal outlines a gradual release of the hostages along with the gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from the entire enclave and ends with a “sustainable calm,” defined as a “permanent cessation of hostilities.” military and hostile. operations”.
In the first stage of the 42-day ceasefire, Hamas would release 33 hostages (including women, children, the elderly and the sick) in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, and Israeli forces would would withdraw from parts of Gaza. The parties would then negotiate the terms of the next stage, under which the remaining civilians and soldiers would be released, while Israeli forces would withdraw from the rest of Gaza.
Hamas has demanded an end to the conflict and Israel’s complete withdrawal in exchange for the release of all hostages. Publicly, Israeli leaders reject that compensation and promise that the conflict will continue until all the hostages are freed and Hamas is destroyed.