Israeli army seizes control of Palestinian side of Rafah crossing

By Anadolu staff

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Israeli army on Tuesday said that its forces have seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

In a statement, the Israeli army said its 401st armored brigade took "operational control" of the Rafah crossing from the Palestinian side.

Israeli forces are conducting a "sweep operation" in the areas of eastern Rafah it seized, it added, claiming to kill 20 Palestinian gunmen.

The spokesman of the Palestinian border crossing authority confirmed earlier that the border was closed from the Palestinian side.

Video footage shared by Israeli media outlets, including the Times of Israel, showed an Israeli tank at the Rafah crossing.

Following the Palestinian Hamas group announcement of accepting a Qatari-Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza, Israel’s war cabinet decided to push ahead with an operation in Rafah in order to apply what it said "military pressure on Hamas with the goal of making progress on freeing the hostages and the other war aims.”

The Israeli army issued immediate evacuation orders early Monday for Palestinians in the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah and called on them to move to the town of al-Mawasi in southern Gaza.

Rafah is home to more than 1.5 million displaced Palestinians who have taken refuge from the war launched by Israel following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that killed nearly 1,200 people.

Since then, the Israeli onslaught has killed more than 34,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, besides causing a humanitarian catastrophe.

Nearly seven months into the Israeli war, 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 stands 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 there.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar