Israel takes control of the Palestinian side of Rafah; video – 05/07/2024 – World

After a night of air strikes in the Gaza Strip, Israel took full control of the Rafah crossing, this Tuesday (7), while advancing with its tanks towards the city that became the last refuge of the war for more than half of the population of the Palestinian territory.

During the morning, the Army released images showing military vehicles at the site, on the border between Gaza and Egypt, and the Israeli flag raised on the Palestinian side. “A precise counterterrorism operation to eliminate Hamas fighters and infrastructure in specific areas of eastern Rafah began overnight,” the military said.

With the offensive, Rafah and Kerem Shalom, the two main points for supplies to enter the territory, are closed, according to Jens Laerke, spokesman for Ocha, the UN humanitarian aid office. The scenario is worrying, according to him, because the organization has very low stocks inside Gaza — fuel, for example, would only last one day.

“Stopping fuel input for a long period of time would be a very effective way of burying the humanitarian operation,” Laerke said. A border official on the Gaza side and officials from the Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed to Reuters that the crossing is closed.

In practice, since the beginning of the war, Israeli authorities have already supervised the entire flow of people and goods entering through Rafah, with the right to veto on the grounds of security risk. The Egyptian government coordinated the operation of the gates, but under monitoring from Tel Aviv.

The interruption of the humanitarian flow in Rafah comes two days after the closure of Kerem Shalom, another crossing in the south of the Palestinian territory. On Sunday (5), Israel announced that it had blocked the border post after a Hamas attack killed four soldiers there.

If this Tuesday’s blockade is confirmed, only Erez, to the north, will have a limited flow of humanitarian aid at a time when the Army is advancing towards the south. According to a spokesperson for the WHO (World Health Organization), the measure does not make exceptions for sick and injured patients.

The attack on Kerem Shalom appears to have been the trigger for Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to begin the operation in Rafah, which was exhaustively announced in recent months. This Monday (6), one day after the offensive, Israel ordered around 100,000 people to leave the eastern part of the city, which once had around 280,000 Palestinians and is now home to more than 1 million people fleeing the war.

Hours after the evacuation order, the prime minister told United States President Joe Biden that he would guarantee the reopening of Kerem Shalom for humanitarian aid, according to a statement from the White House, which has not yet happened.

On the call, the leaders also talked about the Rafah issue, and the American “reiterated his position”, according to the note. The US is Israel’s main ally, but has expressed concern about the imminent invasion of the city, despite maintaining military aid.

This Tuesday, Washington once again stated that its positions on a major land invasion of Rafah are clear. “We believe a hostage agreement is in the best interests of the Israeli and Palestinian people; it would bring an immediate ceasefire and allow for an increase in humanitarian assistance to Gaza,” a US State Department spokesperson said.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres also called on Israel and Hamas to spare no effort for a ceasefire agreement. An attack on Rafah, he continued, would be “a strategic error, a political calamity and a humanitarian nightmare.”

“I am disturbed and distressed by the new military activity in Rafah,” Guterres told reporters. “The closure of the Rafah and Karem Shalom crossings is especially damaging to an already desperate humanitarian situation. They must be reopened immediately.”

Itamaraty also spoke out in a statement on Monday night, stating that the Israeli offensive in Rafah could “compromise ongoing mediation and dialogue efforts.” According to the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, “the Israeli government, once again, shows disregard for the observance of the basic principles of human rights and humanitarian law.”

This Monday, Hamas announced that it had agreed to a ceasefire proposal mediated by authorities from Qatar, Egypt and the United States in Cairo. If implemented, the truce would be the first since a week-long pause in fighting that occurred in November, but Israel said the terms did not meet its demands.

The denial was a cold shower after days of negotiating a proposal classified as “generous” by authorities in the United Kingdom and the United States. The text accepted by Hamas, however, did not meet Israel’s main demands, the war cabinet said in a statement. To Reuters, a government official said the proposal included long-term measures that Tel Aviv could not accept.

The talks continued on Tuesday, when a lower-level delegation, which does not include the main negotiators, landed in Cairo, the prime minister’s office told the Times of Israel.

The government’s decision, however, is likely to have repercussions on Israeli society, which has demanded greater efforts from Netanyahu to bring back the hostages kidnapped in the October 7 attack. On Tuesday, Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the al-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said in a statement that a 70-year-old hostage died after succumbing to injuries caused by Israeli shelling.

Despite appeals from the international community, tanks and planes from Tel Aviv attacked several areas and houses in Rafah overnight, according to residents. Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry said bombings had killed 54 people and injured 96 others in the past 24 hours, raising the number of Palestinians killed in the war to 34,789.

After the night of bombings, people searched for bodies under the rubble of destroyed buildings. “We are patient and we will remain firm on this land,” said Raed al-Derby, who said his wife and children were killed. “We are waiting for release.”