UN officials said on Tuesday that Israeli troops had “suffocated” the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings, the two main routes for aid entry into Gaza, and officials warned that the humanitarian crisis in the enclave would worsen.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that Israel’s seizure of the Rafah crossing was a “dangerous escalation” that threatened the lives of Palestinians taking refuge in the city.
Josep Borrell Fontelles, the European Union’s top diplomat, also condemned the Israeli attack.
“The ground offensive against Rafah has begun again, despite all requests from the international community, the United States, the member states of the European Union and all those asking Netanyahu not to attack Rafah,” he said. to journalists in Brussels. “I’m afraid this will again cause many casualties, civilian casualties.”
Wael Abu Omar, spokesman for the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing, said the closure had prevented 46 wounded and sick people from leaving Gaza for medical treatment in Egypt. The patients included people with breast cancer, lymphoma and other ailments, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.
President Biden has urged Netanyahu to resist launching a full-scale invasion of Rafah, warning it would be devastating for Palestinian civilians.
Kirby, the White House spokesman, said Tuesday that Israel had told the Biden administration that its operation in Rafah was “limited” and “designed to cut off Hamas’s ability to smuggle weapons into Gaza.” Kirby said the administration still opposes a full-scale invasion of Rafah.
The Israeli military said its troops had found three tunnels in an area near the Rafah crossing. That claim could not immediately be verified. Israeli and Egyptian officials have said in the past that Gaza’s border with Egypt was a route for arms smuggling into the coastal enclave.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said he visited troops near Rafah and that the operation there would continue until the last Hamas brigade in the city was destroyed “or until the return of the first hostage to Israel.”