Israel seizes Gaza key border crossing

Israel sent tanks into Rafah in southern Gaza, seizing control of and sealing the border crossing with Egypt on Tuesday as its offensive continues.The White House said the closure was “unacceptable”.

A senior Hamas official, requesting anonymity, warned this would be Israel’s “last chance” to free the estimated 128 captives still held in the Palestinian territory, including 35 the military says are dead. Israel’s close ally the United States said it was hopeful the two sides can “close the remaining gaps”.

Mr Netanyahu said that “within hours” of approving the Rafah operation, “our forces raised the Israeli flags at the Rafah crossing and took down the Hamas flags”. Palestinians crowd a street as smoke billows nearby from Israeli strikes in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Army footage showed tanks taking “operational control” of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, the military said, in a deployment that had a “very limited scope against very specific targets”.

Overnight, heavy bombardments rocked Rafah, an AFP correspondent reported, with two hospitals recording a total of 27 killed. Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Tuesday Israel may “deepen” its Gaza operation if negotiations fail to get hostages out. Mr Netanyahu’s office called the proposal “far from Israel’s essential demands”, but the government would still send negotiators for talks.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell expressed concern that an attack on Rafah began despite European and US warnings, and could cause many “civilian casualties”.

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