(Al Jazeera Media Network) The Israeli military has seized control of the Gaza Strip side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, moving forward with an offensive in the southern city as prospects for a ceasefire deal with Hamas hang in the balance.
Israel’s 401st Brigade entered the Rafah crossing on Tuesday morning, a day after the Palestinian group governing Gaza said it accepted an Egyptian-Qatari mediated ceasefire proposal. Israel, meanwhile, insisted the deal did not meet its core demands.
The Rafah crossing is crucial for both aid and those able to flee into Egypt. Israeli leaders long anticipated a military operation into the southern city, where some 1.4 million Palestinians, including more than 600,000 children, are sheltering, despite warnings from the United Nations, United States, the European Union and international humanitarian organizations that an attack would be catastrophic.
Footage released by the Israeli military showed a tank entering the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing. Details of the video matched known features of the crossing and showed Israeli flags flying from tanks that seized the area.
The Israeli military said in an early morning news briefing on Tuesday that its special forces were scanning the area and that they had been operating since Monday night in eastern Rafah.
