Algeria condemns Israel's military operations in Rafah

By Hassan Gabriel

ALGIERS, Algeria (AA) - Algeria strongly denounced on Tuesday military actions by Israel in the southern Gazan city of Rafah.

"This dangerous escalation, which threatens to cause an unprecedented criminal toll, confirms that the Israeli occupation is continuing its plans to exterminate the Palestinian people," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"By its actions, the occupation disregards the international community agreement on the urgent need to expedite a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and the inevitability of launching a political process to ensure the establishment of the Palestinian state,'' it added.

Israeli forces seized control of the Rafah border crossing earlier Tuesday that links the Gaza Strip with Egypt, closing it to all traffic.

The Israeli army said the 401st armored brigade took "operational control" of the Rafah crossing from the Palestinian side.

For the first time since 2005, Israeli forces moved into the eastern side of the Philadelphi Corridor on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for an Oct. 7 Hamas attack, which killed less than 1,200 people.

Nearly 34,800 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and 78,100 injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Nearly seven months into the Israeli onslaught, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul