Israel seizes Rafah crossing amid global outcry
RAFAH: Israel sent tanks into Rafah in southern Gaza, seizing control of the border crossing with Egypt on Tuesday, an operation the UN said denied it access to the key humanitarian passage.
The military’s thrust into the eastern sector of the city packed with displaced civilians came with negotiators and mediators due in Cairo in the latest effort towards a prisoner release and ceasefire in the seven-month-old Israeli offensive.
A senior Hamas official, requesting anonymity to discuss the negotiations, warned that it would be Israel’s “last chance” to free the estimated 128 prisoners still held in the Palestinian territory, including 35 the military says are dead.
A Hamas delegation was headed “shortly” to Cairo, the official said. Israel has said it would also send negotiators, and mediator Qatar announced it was dispatching a team as well.
The long-threatened Rafah operation began hours after Hamas announced late on Monday it had accepted a truce proposal, prompting cheering crowds to take to the streets despite Israel saying it was “far” from plans it had previously agreed to. Army footage showed tanks flying the Israeli flag taking “operational control” of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, the military said, in a deployment that had a “very limited scope against very specific targets”.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Tuesday Israel was prepared to “deepen” its Gaza operation if truce talks fail to secure the release of prisoners held there by Hamas fighters.