Shipments 'halted' as Israel takes control of vital crossing

The Israeli military captured the Palestinian side of the Rafah Crossing on the Egypt border on Tuesday morning. Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) tanks pushed into the southern Gazan town following a night of air strikes on the Palestinian enclave, after Jerusalem said a truce offer from the Hamas group did not meet its demands.

An Israeli official called it a "limited operation" aimed at pressuring Hamas to accept a deal. It was not the broad Rafah offensive that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly promised Israel would carry out, according to some reports, citing a source familiar with Israel's plan.

An Egyptian official and Hamas's Al-Aqsa TV said early Tuesday that Israeli officials informed the Egyptians that the troops would withdraw after completing the operation. No timeline was given.

Shipments Halted

U.N. and other international aid agencies said the closing of the two crossings into southern Gaza - Rafah and Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom - had virtually cut the enclave off from outside aid and very few stores were available inside.

Red Crescent sources in Egypt said shipments had completely halted.

The IDF said it had "intelligence information that terrorists were using the crossing area for terror purposes." Some 20 gunmen were killed and Israeli troops located "three significant" tunnel shafts during the offensive, according to the IDF. 

Also on Tuesday morning, Hamas fired several rockets and mortars from the city at the Kerem Shalom area, the site of Sunday's deadly attack and just across the border from eastern Rafah. There was no damage or injuries, the IDF said.

The Gaza health ministry said Israeli strikes across the enclave had killed 54 Palestinians and wounded 96 others in 24 hours.

Talks in Cairo 

On Monday, hours after Israel issued evacuation orders for some 100,000 Gazans in parts of eastern Rafah, Hamas said it had accepted an Egyptian and Qatari ceasefire and hostage release proposal. 

However, Israeli officials said the Hamas terms did not match what Jerusalem had agreed to. A team of mid-ranking Israeli officials will go to Cairo on Tuesday to assess whether Hamas can be persuaded to shift on its latest ceasefire offer, though, a senior Israeli official said. The official reiterated that the proposal as it stands was unacceptable to Israel.

Hamas said in a statement Tuesday, that Israel's incursion into Gaza's Rafah Crossing aimed to undermine ceasefire efforts. The statement calls on the U.S. and the international community to pressure Israel to halt the "escalation." 

A Qatari delegation will head to Cairo on Tuesday to resume indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas through mediators. 

World reacts to Rafah crossing closure

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell said the assault on Rafah could be deadly for civilians.

"The Rafah offensive has started again, in spite of all the requests of the international community, the U.S., the European Union member states, everybody asking Netanyahu not to attack," Borrell told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday, ahead of the EU Foreign Affairs Council.

"I am afraid that this is going to cause again a lot of casualties, civilian casualties," he said. "There are no safe zones in Gaza."

Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the U.N. humanitarian affairs office known as OCHA, said Israeli authorities have denied it access to the Rafah crossing. He warned that disruption at Rafah could break the fragile aid operation, saying all the fuel keeping the humanitarian work moving comes through the crossing.

Belgium's Development Minister Caroline Gennez said a larger-scale Israeli assault on Rafah would cross a "red line" and said that if it followed, "sanctions ... have to be on the table" in response. 

"It is very clear that international law is no longer respected in Gaza," she said. 

Gennez called on fellow EU members to agree on a decision to "stop exporting weapons to the Middle East, to Israel and the warfaring countries."

Jochen Flasbarth, a state secretary from Germany's Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, said "the situation is dramatic and continues to worsen" in Gaza and called the humanitarian situation in the territory "appalling."

Egypt warns that Israel's operation in Gaza's Rafah city threatens ceasefire efforts, according to the foreign ministry. The Israeli operation in Rafah marks another war crime by Israel, Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said. Ankara would continue working for the Israeli leadership to be legally punished, he added.

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