Israeli troops seize Rafah border crossing, imperiling Gaza aid

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had gained “operational control” of the Palestinian side of the crossing as part of a “precise counterterrorism operation” in Rafah, which shares a border with Egypt.

The incursion Tuesday appeared limited, falling short of the large-scale ground offensive Israel has threatened in Rafah. But it also shut down the crossing, a key entry point for aid to southern Gaza, triggering immediate concern over the delivery of food, fuel and other supplies to Palestinians displaced by the war.

U.N. Secretary General António Guterres called for the crossings to be reopened immediately, urging Israel to stop any escalation and engage in diplomacy.

Israel communicated to the United States that its activity in Rafah, which began Monday night, “is an operation of limited scope, scale and duration and aimed at cutting off Hamas’s ability to ship arms across the Rafah border,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said at a news briefing Tuesday.

He said it was “absolutely critical” that Israel allow the crossing to be “opened up as soon as possible.”

Several videos and photos geolocated by The Washington Post on Tuesday showed Israeli forces inside the crossing, where they had raised two Israeli flags. One video showed an Israeli tank crushing an “I love Gaza” sign that welcomes visitors.

The operation to take the Rafah crossing came less than 24 hours after the IDF dropped leaflets over the city ordering roughly 100,000 civilians to leave large parts of it. The United States has urged Israel not to carry out an offensive in Rafah without a “credible” plan to evacuate civilians. Egypt has also repeatedly warned Israel not to go ahead with a Rafah operation and said military action on the border could violate a four-decade-old peace treaty between the two countries.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry described the incursion as a “dangerous escalation” that was threatening the cease-fire effort and endangering the lives of the million Palestinians who depend on the crossing for humanitarian aid and a “safe way out for the injured and patients to get treatment.”

Cairo has specifically warned against any Israeli move to secure the no man’s land between Gaza and Egypt, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, a nine-mile-long stretch that Israel controlled before it withdrew from the area in 2005.

But Israel seems intent on pressuring Hamas while giving itself leverage as it negotiates with the group to free hostages kidnapped on Oct. 7. Just hours before the incursion, Hamas said it would agree to a Qatari-Egyptian cease-fire proposal, reviving hopes of an extended pause in the fighting.

“This operation will continue until we eliminate Hamas in the Rafah area and the entire Gaza Strip, or until the first hostage returns,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Tuesday as he visited troops in southern Israel.

“We are willing to make compromises in order to bring back hostages, but if that option is removed, we will go on and deepen the operation,” he said.

The IDF said Tuesday that it “attacked and destroyed” Hamas infrastructure in Rafah, including tunnels that it said the militants had used.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of using the cease-fire talks to “undermine our entry into Rafah.”

“That didn’t happen,” Netanyahu said Tuesday, adding that he was sending a “mid-level” delegation to Cairo to attend a fresh round of talks.

Under discussion is a three-phase deal that would start with the release by Hamas of 33 hostages, including women, children and the elderly, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. It also includes provisions for the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza and for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from populated areas.

“The ball is in Netanyahu’s court and that of his extremist government,” Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official in Beirut, said at a news conference Tuesday.

Israeli officials say Hamas agreed to a modified proposal that Israel had not signed off on. Among the changes was an earlier date for the two sides to begin negotiating a permanent cease-fire. Hamas also wants Israel to give up its veto power over the names of high-level Palestinian prisoners, according to an Israeli official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations.

A former Egyptian official with knowledge of the talks, however, said the proposal that Hamas accepted was approved by the Israeli government. He also spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss the cease-fire talks.

According to Gershon Baskin, a former Israeli negotiator, the two sides won’t agree to a deal because they want fundamentally different things. Hamas wants an agreement that includes a guarantee for a permanent cease-fire. Netanyahu wants to be able to keep fighting the war — and won’t agree to a deal that ends the conflict.

“That’s where we are trapped,” he said.

The back-and-forth between Israel and Hamas caused fear and confusion in Rafah. On Monday, residents celebrated the Hamas announcement saying it had accepted the deal. But hours later, the jubilation was cut short by intense Israeli bombardment and fighting at the Rafah crossing.

“It would be tragic if weeks of intense diplomatic activity for peace in Gaza yield no cease-fire, no release of hostages and a devastating offensive in Rafah,” Guterres said.

Over seven months of war, Rafah has served as a last refuge for Palestinians, with tents and makeshift encampments choking its dusty streets and open areas. On Tuesday, thousands crammed the roads to leave, though there was little transport or fuel available, said Nebal Farsakh, spokeswoman for the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

“There’s no way to evacuate this number of people safely,” she said, adding that people had scant notice to evacuate before the bombardment began.

The IDF said the “vast majority” of the more than 100,000 civilians in the evacuation zone had already left the area, but many people reached in Rafah said they didn’t have the means to leave. Aid groups also warned that the Mawasi region that the IDF has suggested as a “safe zone” is poorly equipped to handle a major influx of people.

“There’s going to be no infrastructure for those people to share,” said Ricardo Pires, a spokesman for UNICEF, the U.N. children’s agency.

Marwan al-Hams, director of the Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital in eastern Rafah, said Tuesday that staff were shutting down the building because of the fighting. “Every moving person is a target,” he said.

Hudhayfah Lafi, 43, lives with his disabled parents and around 40 members of his extended family in a house in Rafah’s al-Geneina neighborhood. He said he did not follow the orders to evacuate because there’s nowhere else to go.

“We did not move, not because we don’t want to, but because the most important question is where?” he said, doubting that they could even find space to pitch a tent.

Abeer Maher, 36, a mother of three who was displaced from Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood earlier in the war and fled to Rafah, said transportation costs made it impossible for many to leave. A car to the southern city of Khan Younis costs more than $300, she said.

“I am seriously terrified,” she said, adding that the bombing in Rafah had kept the family up all night. Many people left on foot, she said, bundling their few belongings into bags or onto carts.

Moaz Al-Hams, 28, said his uncle, aunt and two cousins had been killed in the bombardment overnight. “We are facing darker and worse days than we can imagine,” he said. “People see death here everywhere.”

Mahfouz and Parker reported from Cairo, Harb from London and Rubin from Tel Aviv. Karen DeYoung in Washington contributed to this report.