The Israeli army deployed tanks on Tuesday in Rafah and took control of the border crossing with Egypt in the south of the Gaza Strip. It thus cut off access for humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian territory.
Seven months after the start of the war with Hamas, the army released images showing tanks flying the Israeli flag deployed in Rafah, on the Palestinian side of the border area, and claimed to be carrying out a “counterterrorism” operation in ” specific areas” of eastern Rafah. Overnight bombings on the city left at least 27 dead, according to two hospitals in Rafah.
The day before, the army had called for the evacuation of tens of thousands of families from the east of the city, which is home to a total of 1.4 million Palestinians, according to the UN, in anticipation of a ground offensive that the Prime Israeli Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, promised to launch to eliminate the last battalions of Hamas.
Blocked humanitarian convoys
The UN announced on Tuesday that access from Egypt to the Rafah crossing point, the main entry point for humanitarian aid, vital for the population of Gaza, was prohibited by the Israeli army.
In Egypt, “hundreds of trucks loaded with fuel and humanitarian aid are blocked” after the closure of the Rafah crossing point and that of Kerem Shalom, between Israel and the Gaza Strip, according to Egyptian sources.
The UN also claimed that it only had one day’s fuel reserve left for humanitarian operations in Gaza, due to the closure of Rafah.
While Israel continues its military operations, new discussions must take place in Cairo after the green light given by Hamas to a draft agreement presented by the mediating countries to try to end the war, launched on October 7 by an unprecedented attack launched by the Islamist movement against Israel. This proposal is “far from Israeli demands”, said the Prime Minister’s Office.
Hamas authorities for their part accused Israel on Tuesday of “deliberately exacerbating” the humanitarian crisis “by closing the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossing points”, and by targeting “hospitals and schools during its aggression in the is from Rafah.
“Go West”
The army announced on Tuesday that it had taken “operational control” of the Palestinian part of the crossing point with Egypt and announced that ground troops had begun a “targeted counterterrorism operation” in eastern Rafah. An armored unit “maneuvered in the area. At the moment, special forces are inspecting the crossing point,” added the army.
“We had clues, including the firing” of rockets on Sunday, against the Kerem Shalom crossing point between Israel and Gaza which killed four Israeli soldiers, “but also intelligence, that the Gazan part of the crossing point (. ..) was used by Hamas for terrorist purposes,” the army explained.
On Tuesday, the armed wing of Hamas announced that it had fired rockets “at a gathering of Israeli troops” around Kerem Shalom, closed since previous shots. The army claimed that these rockets were fired from Rafah.
The day before, ordered to evacuate by the Israeli army, thousands of desperate men, women and children, many already displaced by the war, had hastily packed some belongings, without really knowing where to go.
“We are terrified, it is not easy to be moved from one place to another,” Hanah Saleh, a 40-year-old man displaced from the north of the Gaza Strip, told AFP. “We are going to head west of Rafah, but we don’t know exactly where. And everyone is asking the question,” he added.
The army dropped leaflets calling for evacuations to the humanitarian zone of al-Mawasi, about ten kilometers from Rafah. But residents and humanitarian organizations describe areas already overpopulated or destroyed by war.
“Pressure on Hamas”
On Monday evening, Hamas said it had informed Egypt and Qatar, the mediating countries with the United States, that it had “approved their proposal for a ceasefire agreement.”
Israel decided to send a delegation to Cairo, while continuing its operations in Rafah, “in order to exert military pressure on Hamas with the aim of progressing towards the release of the hostages and other objectives of the war”, according to the Prime Minister’s office. Qatar also announced the sending of a delegation to Cairo on Tuesday to relaunch indirect negotiations.
According to the number two of Hamas’s political branch in Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya, the proposal includes three phases, each lasting 42 days, and includes a complete Israeli withdrawal from the territory, the return of the displaced and an exchange of hostages held in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, with the aim of a “permanent ceasefire”.
Israel has so far opposed a ceasefire until Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007, has been defeated. The Islamist movement, considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union, for its part demands a definitive ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, prior to any agreement.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reaffirmed Monday that a ground operation on Rafah “would be intolerable due to its devastating humanitarian consequences” and launched a “very strong” appeal to both camps to reach a settlement. “vital agreement”.