The Israeli army declared its control over the Rafah crossing in Palestine
Israeli military radio today (Tuesday) approved a ceasefire submitted by Egypt and Qatar, despite Hamas announcing that Israeli forces had taken control of the Palestinian enclave of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip along the Egyptian border. Undressing.
The Israeli military announced that it had “operationally taken control of the Palestinian side of Rafah on the border with Egypt,” adding that “special forces are destabilizing the area.”
He said his forces had been operating since last night in a specific area in eastern Rafah, where most residents and some international organizations had been evacuated.
On the other hand, a spokesman for the Gaza Crossings Authority told Reuters today that the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt is closed from the Palestinian side due to the presence of Israeli tanks.
Three humanitarian relief sources told Reuters that the delivery of aid through the crossing had been hampered.
In an early morning press conference, the military said, “The Kerem Shalom crossing is closed today for security reasons and will reopen when the security situation permits.”
Atre
For his part, Israeli military spokesman Avichai Adraee, in a post on the “X” site, said Israeli military forces “conducted a surprise operation from the 162nd Division east of Rafah to neutralize Hamas-affiliated terrorist targets and gain operational control over the Gaza side. After receiving intelligence information from the Rafah crossing, Indicates that it has been used by saboteurs for terrorist purposes.
He added: IDF forces led by the 162nd Division, under the guidance of the Public Security Service and the Army’s intelligence, carried out a precision operation yesterday (Monday) night in defined areas east of Rafah against terrorist infrastructure linked to the terrorist organization Hamas. Intelligence Service.”
He pointed out that within the framework of the operation, forces of the 401st Brigade Combat Team gained operational control over the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, “based on intelligence that saboteurs were using the crossing for terrorist purposes.”
He continued: “So far, about twenty terrorists have been killed during the operation. The forces also found three operational tunnel openings in the area. No casualties occurred among our forces.
Contract Terms
Israel had previously announced that the conditions in the proposed deal did not meet its demands and launched strikes in Rafah with the aim of continuing negotiations on the deal.
The developments in the seven-month-old war came as Israeli forces bombarded Rafah by air and on the ground. It ordered residents to evacuate parts of the city, where more than a million displaced Palestinians have taken refuge.
In a brief statement by Hamas on Monday, Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau, said, “Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani and the head of Egyptian intelligence, Mr. He contacted Abbas Kamel on phone. , the Hamas movement agreed to their proposal for a cease-fire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office later announced that Israel’s demands had not been met, but that it would send a delegation to meet with negotiators to try to reach an agreement.
A delegation from Doha will travel to Cairo today to resume indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, Qatar’s foreign ministry said.
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the war cabinet agreed to continue the operation in Rafah. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi wrote at Site “X” that Netanyahu risks undermining the ceasefire by bombing Rafah.
Gaza health officials say more than 34,600 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military operations. The United Nations has warned of famine in the region.
The most recent war in Gaza erupted when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7. Israel says the attack killed about 1,200 people and took 252 hostages, 133 of whom are still in Gaza.
Rafa in Bombing
Any ceasefire would be the first halt in fighting since a week-long truce in November during which Hamas released half of its hostages.
Since then, all efforts to reach a new cease-fire have failed, with Hamas refusing to release any more hostages and promising to end the war permanently, while Israel insists on discussing only a temporary cease-fire.
Taher al-Nono, a Hamas official and Haniyeh’s media adviser, told Reuters the plan meets the movement’s demands for reconstruction efforts in Gaza, the return of displaced Palestinians and the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Khalil al-Hayya, deputy head of the Hamas movement in Gaza, said the proposal consists of three phases, each lasting six weeks, with Israel withdrawing its forces from Gaza in the second phase.
On Monday, Israel ordered the evacuation of parts of the city of Rafah on the Egyptian border, the last refuge for half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population.
Five Palestinians, including a woman and a child, were killed in an Israeli attack on a house in Rafah, medics said.
Israel says scores of Hamas fighters, perhaps dozens of hostages, are in Rafah, saying victory requires capturing the key city.
The US called on its ally Israel not to attack Rafah, saying it should not proceed without a comprehensive plan to protect civilians there, which it has yet to reveal.
A US official said separately that Washington is concerned about recent Israeli attacks on Rafah but that they do not represent a major military operation.
Some Palestinian families fled under the chilly spring rain after receiving instructions via text messages, phone calls and leaflets in Arabic to move to what the Israeli military described as an “extended humanitarian zone” 20 kilometers away.
