UN says Gaza now 'choked off' from aid after Israel occupies Rafah crossing
Israel is pressing ahead with targeted strikes in eastern Rafah after Hamas issued a statement saying it accepts a ceasefire agreement, ITV News Senior International Correspondent John Irvine reports
Gaza is being "choked off" from aid after Israeli authorities occupied the critical Rafah crossing to Egypt on Tuesday, the United Nations has said.
An Israeli tank brigade entered the Rafah crossing early on Tuesday morning in order to take "operational control" of the area, which is a crucial crossing for both aid and those able to flee into Egypt.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the capture of the crossing was an "important step" to dismantling Hamas's military and economic capabilities."
The operation came despite Hamas accepting an Egyptian-Qatari mediated ceasefire proposal on Monday.
The move by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) has been seen as the start of their long-planned offensive in Rafah, despite intense international pressure to call it off over fears of a humanitarian catastrophe.
Footage released by the Israeli military showed a tank entering the crossing
More than one million people are now living in the small city after hundreds of thousands of people fled Israeli forces as they enveloped Gaza from the north.
Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said: "Rafah is in the crosshairs" and added "currently the two main arteries for getting aid into Gaza have been choked off."
He said the "IDF is ignoring all warnings about what this could mean for civilians and for the humanitarian operation across the Gaza Strip."
"I think it’s fair to say that the reports that we get from colleagues on the ground is that panic and despair has taken hold: People are terrified."
He said 76% of the territory of Gaza is “under evacuation orders” and people in Rafah have not been given adequate time to abide by evacuation orders.
In a statement published on Tuesday, ActionAid said no humanitarian relief is getting into Gaza "creating a dire situation for the 2.2 million people already struggling with starvation, disease and a severe lack of medical support."
Why has Rafah become a focal point of the Israel-Gaza war? ITV News explains
In response to Israel seizing the crossing, 30 UK-based charities including Save the Children and Oxfam saying the IDF had blocked "completely the passage for people and humanitarian aid."
They said: "There are no safe spaces in Gaza. Israel has repeatedly attacked so-called ‘safe zones’, killing displaced people. Any claims from Israel that civilians can be safely relocated have lost credibility."
The IDF claimed it seized the crossing after receiving intelligence it was “being used for terrorist purposes.”
The military did not provide evidence to immediately support the assertion, though it alleged the area around the crossing had been used to launch a mortar attack that killed four Israeli troops and wounded others near the Kerem Shalom Crossing.
The military also said ground troops and airstrikes targeted suspected Hamas positions in Rafah, with local hospitals saying at least 23 Palestinians had been killed as a result.
On Monday, Israel dropped leaflets on eastern Rafah, an area with a population of around 100,000, telling them to evacuate parts of the city to Al Mawasi which the military had designated a 'safe humanitarian zone'.
Aid agencies have pointed out the area is mostly agricultural land and sand dunes and could not accommodate anywhere near the more than a million refugees in Rafah.
Mohammed Ghanem, a resident of eastern Rafah, told CNN in the area Monday that he left after "they distributed leaflets."
A Rafah resident fleeing the city criticises Hamas and Israel saying: "This isn't war, it's genocide"
He said the Israeli military "are striking everywhere without differentiating between children, adults, militants or non-militants. I left my house that I have been building for 17 years."
He and his wife were walking with all of their belongings to Al Masawi for safety after losing their home.
Faisal Barbakh, who fled on his bicycle, told CNN he is leaving a lifetime of memories behind “for the unknown.”
“I’m carrying all of my life here. My family is torn in seven places. I feel it’s the end of life. I can’t think anymore. I left 59 years of life behind, all of my memories, my children’s pictures, the contract of my house.”
The seizing of the crossing and the worsening situation in Rafah has put the chance of a ceasefire, which briefly seemed like a real possibility on Monday, on a knife-edge.
Gazans began celebrating almost immediately with singing and cheering when Hamas announced it had accepted a ceasefire deal but Israel accused the militant group of playing diplomatic games to increase pressure on Israel to stop their Rafah offensive by accepting the ceasefire.
Israel said the plan accepted by Hamas did not meet their core demands but despite this, they would send negotiators back to Cairo to continue ceasefire negotiations.
Egyptian officials said the ceasefire proposal called for multiple stages starting with a limited hostage release and partial Israeli troop pullbacks within Gaza.
The two sides would also negotiate a “permanent calm” that would lead to a full hostage release and greater Israeli withdrawal out of the territory, they said.
Hamas sought clearer guarantees for its key demand of an end to the war and complete Israeli withdrawal in return for the release of all hostages, but it wasn’t clear if any changes were made.
Israeli leaders have repeatedly rejected that trade-off, vowing to keep up their campaign until Hamas is destroyed after its October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war.
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