live blog
The Israeli military has taken control of the Rafah border crossing. UN Secretary-General Guterres urgently calls for an agreement on a ceasefire. All developments in the live blog.
According to the military, Israeli troops have taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. The Israeli military said the soldiers took operational control on Tuesday night. Israeli media showed an Israeli flag on the Palestinian side of the border crossing, but the military did not comment.
Israeli tanks arrived at the border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Defense Forces and Palestinian representatives said. A spokesman for the Palestinian Border Crossing Authority, Wael Abu Omar, said the crossing, the main entry point for aid deliveries into the Gaza Strip, was out of order. “The entire western area (of Rafah) has become an operational area since yesterday,” Abu Omar said.
Two Israeli soldiers were killed in a drone attack by the Lebanese Hezbollah militia on a military position in the border region between Lebanon and Israel, the Israeli army announced. Hezbollah itself had previously said it had fired dozens of rockets into Israeli territory.
In view of international concerns about an Israeli offensive in Rafah, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has appealed to Israel and the militant Islamist Hamas to make all “necessary efforts” to agree on a further ceasefire. Both sides now have to take “an additional step” towards each other.
A “ground invasion of Rafah would be unsustainable because of its devastating humanitarian consequences and its destabilizing impact” on the region, Guterres warned.
The US government does not currently believe that the recent attacks on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip are the start of a large-scale offensive by the Israeli military. This was announced by a US government representative. However, the American side’s serious concerns about such a military offensive in the densely populated area have not changed. This position was also clearly represented.
A few hours after the Islamist Hamas announced that it would agree to the mediator’s proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, the Israeli army attacked targets in the east of Rafah late on Monday evening. According to an army spokesman, these were Hamas facilities.
Reporting on the war in the Gaza Strip marked the awarding of the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in New York. The New York Times won the award in the international reporting category for its “comprehensive and insightful coverage of the deadly Hamas attack in southern Israel on October 7” and for its coverage of “the Israeli military’s comprehensive, deadly response.” .
Reuters won the Breaking News Photography Award for its coverage of the October 7 attack and the Israeli response. A special mention was given to “journalists and media workers reporting on the war in Gaza.”
Palestinian militants say they have carried out rocket attacks on Israeli targets. The armed wing of Islamic Jihad said in the evening that the city of Sderot, Kibbutz Nir Am and Israeli settlements near the Gaza Strip had been targeted. The attacks are a response to Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army said sirens were heard near the Gaza Strip. There were initially no reports of injuries or deaths.
According to a local hospital, five people were killed in Israeli attacks in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. In addition, several people were admitted after Israeli attacks, the Kuwaiti hospital in the city said overnight. Palestinian circles and witnesses said there were intense Israeli military attacks in the Rafah area. In the city of Rafah, more than a million people have sought refuge from fighting between Israel’s army and the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas.
According to Palestinian media reports, Israel’s armed forces advanced to the Kerem Shalom border crossing overnight. The Islamist Hamas television station reported that Israeli tanks were shelling the Gaza crossing from a distance of 200 meters. The crossing is about three kilometers from the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
According to the usually well-informed Israeli journalist Barak Ravid, the military also plans to take control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt within hours. A military spokesman reported in the evening about targeted attacks on Hamas targets in the eastern part of Rafah. There was initially no reaction from the military to the Palestinian reports of attacks, including those involving tanks.
The Israeli military says it has attacked Hamas targets in eastern Rafah. Foreign Minister Baerbock sharply criticized an attack by Hamas on the Kerem Shalom border crossing. All developments can be read in the live blog.