Israeli tanks enter Rafah, seize key border crossing
Israeli tanks seized control of Gaza’s vital Rafah border crossing on Tuesday as Israel brushed off urgent warnings from close allies and moved into the southern city even as cease-fire negotiations with Hamas remained on a knife’s edge.
Hamas issued a statement calling Israel’s move a “dangerous escalation” which threatens the lives of hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians in Rafah and facilities protected by international law.
The UN also warned of a potential collapse of 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 “full-blown famine.”
The incursion comes after Israel said it would continue its military operation in Rafah even after Hamas said it had accepted a Gaza cease-fire proposal put forward by Qatari and Egyptian mediators. Israel insisted the deal did not meet its core demands.
The high-stakes diplomatic moves and military brinkmanship left a glimmer of hope alive — if only barely — for a deal to bring at least a pause in the war, which as it marked its 7-month point Tuesday, has killed more than 34,700 Palestinians and has devastated the Gaza Strip.