Israeli troops take control of Rafah border crossing, angering Egypt

Israeli troops take control of Rafah border crossing, angering Egypt

JERUSALEM — Israeli forces took control of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Tuesday, making their first ground incursion into the densely packed southern Gaza city where they have vowed to root out the last remnants of Hamas, an operation that angered neighboring Egypt.

An official from the Israel Defense Forces said infantry troops and an armored battalion gained “operational control” of the Palestinian side of the crossing. The official, who declined to be named in line with army protocol, said 20 militants were killed and three tunnel shafts uncovered in what he described as a “specific targeted operation” that was continuing on Tuesday morning.

The operation imperiled already fragile Israeli relations with Egypt, which has repeatedly warned Israel that military action on the border could violate a four-decade-old peace treaty between the two countries.

“Egypt vehemently denounces the Israeli military operation in Palestine Rafah, which has resulted in Israel controlling the Palestinian side of the border,” the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It described the incursion as a “dangerous escalation” that was threatening cease-fire efforts, adding that the operation endangered 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.”

Both the Rafah crossing and Kerem Shalom, the two main aid entry points to the south, have been closed by the fighting, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials.

A photo circulated online and geolocated by The Washington Post showed two Israeli flags raised on the Palestinian side of the crossing point. Another video showed an armored vehicle ramming into a “Gaza” sign flanked by two Palestinian flags by the arrivals hall.

The operation came less than 24 hours after Israel dropped leaflets over the city — now harboring more than a million Palestinians, around half of Gaza’s entire population — ordering them 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.

A Palestinian boy checks the destruction from the roof of a damaged house following Israeli bombardment of Rafah’s Tal al-Sultan district in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

But Israel appears intent on upping the pressure on Hamas, whose military capabilities it aims to destroy, while also giving itself additional leverage as it sends mediators to Cairo to reach a deal on freeing its remaining hostages held by Hamas. Just hours before Israel launched its overnight attack, Hamas said it would agree to a Qatari-Egyptian cease-fire proposal, reviving hopes of an extended pause.

Over the past six months of war, Rafah has become a last refuge for Palestinians, with tents and makeshift encampments choking streets and its open areas. In addition to the United States, a slew of Israel’s allies have voiced their concerns over an invasion of the city.

Egypt 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.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said that Israel cannot eliminate Hamas without exercising authority over the border region, including the Rafah crossing. Israeli military officials say that Hamas has six remaining battalions in Gaza, four of which are located in Rafah. They also insist that the group operates tunnels under the border with Egypt, something Egyptian officials have denied.

A former Egyptian politician with knowledge of official thinking in Egypt said that despite the fury in Cairo, he still sees an opportunity for a cease-fire deal, with the United States, Egypt and Qatar working hard to broker one. He spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the topic.

Wael Abu Omar, a Gazan border official, confirmed that Israeli troops seized the crossing. He said border staff had left and were unharmed. The flow of aid over the crossing has “stopped completely,” he added.

The IDF official said that the Gazan side of the crossing was being used for “terrorist purposes” by Hamas and that rockets were fired from the area toward the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel on Sunday, which resulted in the deaths of four Israeli soldiers. He said Israel is working to reopen the crossing for aid, saying it was closed for “security reasons.”

The “vast majority” of the more than 100,000 civilians in the evacuation zone have already left the area, the official added.

A view of tents set up for displaced Palestinians amid fears of an Israeli ground offensive on Rafah, in the Mawasi area in Deir al-Balah, April 25.

But Rafah’s war-weary population has little means of leaving, and aid organizations have warned that the Mawasi area in western Gaza where people have been told to move to is meagerly equipped to handle an influx.

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 that transportation costs made it impossible for many to leave. A car to the southern city of Khan Younis now costs more than $300, she said.

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

Aid organizations raised concerns about the impact of the crossings’ closure, saying it would harm the humanitarian response throughout Gaza, including the north, where the risk of famine has been most acute.

“The hunger disaster that people are facing, especially in northern Gaza, will get worse if supplies stop coming in,” said Inas Hamdan, a spokeswoman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

Farouk Mahfouz and Parker reported from Cairo and Rubin from Tel Aviv. Hajar Harb in London, Hazem Balousha in Cairo and Evan Hill in Tokyo contributed.