Middle East conflict live updates: IDF takes control of Rafah crossing’s Gaza side; aid flow halted, border official says

The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday that it has taken “operational control” of the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt. Wael Abu Omar, a Gaza border official, said travel and the flow of aid into the Strip “stopped completely” as a result. Hamas said it agreed to a Qatari-Egyptian cease-fire proposal, and Israel said it would send meditators to negotiate, renewing hopes for a pause in fighting even as Israel vowed to press on with its military operation in Rafah.

Here’s what to know

• The IDF said Tuesday that it struck more than 50 targets in Rafah. A day earlier, the Israeli military ordered about 100,000 civilians in parts of Rafah to evacuate. The IDF described it as “preparation for ground operations in the area.”
• The European Union’s chief diplomat said Tuesday that “the land offensive against Rafah has started again, in spite [of] all the requests of the international community … asking Netanyahu not to attack Rafah.” Josep Borrell warned again of even more civilian casualties.
• In a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Biden reiterated his opposition to a ground invasion of Rafah and provided an update on efforts to secure a hostage deal, according to a White House readout of the conversation.
• U.N. Secretary General António Guterres urged Israel and Hamas to reach a cease-fire deal, calling it “an opportunity that cannot be missed.” A ground invasion in Rafah “would be intolerable because of its devastating humanitarian consequences,” he said.
• At least 34,789 people have been killed and 78,204 injured in Gaza since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children.
• Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, including more than 300 soldiers, and says 267 soldiers have been killed since the launch of its military operation in Gaza.

5:58 AM: IDF takes ‘operational control’ of Gaza side of Rafah crossing

Middle East conflict live updates: IDF takes control of Rafah crossing’s Gaza side; aid flow halted, border official says

An Israel Defense Forces official said Tuesday morning that Israel has established “operational control” of the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, a strategic landmark that is expected to be at the center of Israel’s long-planned next battleground — the city that has for months served as shelter for an estimated 1.4 million Palestinians.

The official, who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the IDF, said that the overnight operation involved special ground troops and the Israeli air force. He said it resulted in the killing of 20 Gazan combatants, as well as the discovery of Hamas infrastructure that included three operational tunnels. The operation is ongoing, he said, with Israeli soldiers remaining in the area to search for more such infrastructure.

Wael Abu Omar, a Gaza border official, said travel and the flow of aid into the Strip via Rafah have “stopped completely” as a result. A former Egyptian official familiar with cease-fire negotiations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive situation, said Israeli military activity at the crossing was not coordinated with Egypt.

The IDF added that it evacuated the “vast majority” of the population and staff of international aid organizations near the crossing. The Washington Post could not independently verify this claim.

“It was a very targeted operation, very limited in scope against a specific target. We have indications that the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing was being used by Hamas,” the official said, referring to the mortars fired from the area on Sunday, which killed four Israeli soldiers at the Kerem Shalom crossing.

The official said that the IDF planned to enable the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza later Tuesday, but that Kerem Shalom has remained closed since the attack for security reasons.

By: Shira Rubin and Heba Farouk Mahfouz

5:27 AM: For Biden, a tough call looms on whether Israel violated laws in Gaza

President Biden makes his way to the Oval Office on Monday.

The Biden administration is expected to notify Congress this week whether it believes Israel has violated U.S. or international law in Gaza, a determination with significant moral and political stakes for President Biden.

The forthcoming report, portions of which are expected to be made public after its transmission to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, arrives at a difficult time for U.S.-Israeli relations, as President Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tangle over Israel’s defiance of Washington’s warnings about its conduct of a war and blockade that has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and triggered the onset of famine.

A finding by the administration that Israel has violated U.S. or international law will almost certainly amplify calls for a suspension of American military aid, and is sure to anger conservatives who have railed against American criticisms of the Jewish state, as well as centrist political donors and many voters as Biden mounts a difficult reelection bid.

Yet to conclude otherwise, amid the conflict’s enormous civilian toll, would risk a backlash from liberals.

Politicians from both parties have already voiced their apprehension, underscoring the challenges Biden faces — and the improbability he emerges unscathed by the report’s findings — whatever they may be.

“God help us if this report somehow says that … the delivery of humanitarian assistance has been compliant with international standards,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who is among the Democratic Party’s most outspoken critics of the administration’s management of the Gaza crisis, told reporters last week, referring to Israel’s control of Gaza’s border. “God help us if that’s your finding because anybody with eyes to see and ears to hear knows that that’s just not true.”

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By: Abigail Hauslohner

1:54 AM: Visualizing what an attack on Rafah means for civilians

Israel’s order for civilians to immediately evacuate parts of Rafah poses severe humanitarian and logistical challenges in the southern Gazan city, where over 1 million displaced people have sought refuge since war broke out in the enclave seven months ago.

On Monday, the Israel Defense Forces told about 100,000 civilians in Rafah to evacuate to a humanitarian zone in the territory’s west, saying the military would operate with “extreme force” in the areas where they live.

Since the war began, Israel has conducted ground operations across most of Gaza, steadily pushing Palestinians south. The United Nations estimates up to 1.7 million people have been displaced by the conflict. A majority of them are in Rafah, which before the war had a population of around 275,000.

Civilians in Shouka and the eastern Rafah neighborhoods of Salam, Jeneina, Tabet Ziraa and Byouk were told to leave for an encampment in the Mawasi area, on the outskirts of Khan Younis, according to a statement in Arabic from Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, an IDF spokesman.

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By: Ruby Mellen and Laris Karklis

1:54 AM: Israel to press attack on Rafah as it negotiates possible cease-fire deal

Displaced Palestinians who fled Rafah after the Israeli military began evacuating civilians from the eastern parts of the southern Gaza city, ahead of a threatened assault, in Mawasi, near the edge of Khan Younis on Monday.

Hamas said Monday it agreed to a Qatari-Egyptian cease-fire proposal and Israel said it would send mediators to negotiate, reviving hopes of an extended pause to the fighting in Gaza even as Israel vowed to press on with its long-awaited military campaign in Rafah.

Early Monday, the Israeli military ordered tens of thousands of civilians in southern Gaza to “evacuate immediately” and said it would act with “extreme force” there, sending a surge of fear through more than a million Palestinians sheltering in the area. Hours later, as displaced families rushed to pack their belongings once more, panic gave way to celebrations, after Hamas announced it had informed Arab mediators that it would approve the cease-fire proposal.

But the path to any final agreement is likely to be a winding one, and there will be no immediate relief for Rafah. Residents reported artillery shelling and bombings as night fell; the Israeli military said it was carrying out strikes against “Hamas terror targets” in the east of the city.

“The war cabinet has unanimously decided that Israel will continue the operation in Rafah of exerting military pressure on Hamas to advance the release of our hostages and the other goals of the war,” said a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office late Monday. “At the same time, even though Hamas’ proposal is far from Israel’s requirements, Israel will send a delegation of mediators to exhaust the possibility of reaching an agreement under conditions that would be acceptable to Israel.”

Additional meetings are expected over the next several days in both Egypt and Qatar, where CIA Director William J. Burns, who has headed the U.S. negotiating team, met Monday with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

The deal Hamas has agreed to was signed off on by Israel last week, a

ccording to a senior Arab official closely familiar with the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss delicate and ongoing diplomacy.

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By: Karen DeYoung, Susannah George, Hajar Harb, Heba Farouk Mahfouz, Hazem Balousha and Kareem Fahim