Negotiators in Cairo as Israel seizes Rafah crossing
Move cuts off aid as delegations set to resume talks
For Israel and Hamas ‘there should be no reason why they can’t overcome those remaining gaps. . . . Everybody is coming to the table.’
Delegations from Israel and hamas arrived in Cairo on tuesday to resume talks on a proposed deal for a cease-fire, just hours after Israeli tanks and troops went into the southern gaza Strip city of Rafah and seized control of the border crossing with Egypt, halting the flow of aid into the enclave.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under pressure from the united States and other allies to agree to a cease-fire, said that while he had sent a delegation back to the talks, “in tandem, we continue waging the war on hamas.”
a white house spokesperson, john kirby, said the negotiations were at a “sensitive stage” and that “there should be no reason why they can’t overcome those remaining gaps.” analysts said Israel’s incursion into Rafah might either ratchet up the pressure on hamas to make a deal or sabotage the talks.
the Israeli military said it had gone into the city to destroy hamas infrastructure used in an attack that killed four Israeli soldiers over the weekend near another border crossing, this one from Israel into gaza.
the move did not appear to be the full ground invasion of Rafah that Israel has long been threatening and its allies working to avert. the Israeli military called it “a very precise” counterterrorism operation.
Israel’s 401st Brigade took “operational control” of the gaza side of the Rafah crossing early tuesday, the military said. military footage showed Israeli flags flying from tanks in the area. It also said troops and airstrikes targeted suspected hamas positions in Rafah.
the military claimed it had intelligence the crossing was “being used for terrorist purposes,” though it did not immediately provide evidence. It said hamas fighters near the crossing launched a mortar attack that killed four Israeli troops near kerem Shalom on Sunday and that more mortars and rockets were fired from the area tuesday.
the Rafah crossing with Egypt and the kerem Shalom crossing with Israel are critical entry points for food, medicine, and other supplies for gaza’s 2.3 million people. they have been closed for at least the past two days, though the smaller Erez crossing between Israel and northern gaza continues to operate.
Israeli authorities denied the uN humanitarian affairs office access to the Rafah crossing tuesday, said its spokesman, jens Laerke, warning the disruption could break the fragile aid operation. all fuel for aid trucks and generators comes through Rafah, and Laerke said there was a “very, very short buffer of about one day of fuel.”
Netanyahu said the capture of the crossing was an “important step” toward dismantling hamas’s military and governing capabilities, and Defense minister Yoav gallant said Israel would “deepen” the Rafah operation if the talks on the hostage deal failed.
Osama hamdan, a hamas official based in Beirut, said the militant group would not respond to military pressure or threats and would not accept any “occupying force” at the Rafah crossing.
kirby said the operation along the gaza-Egypt border in eastern Rafah was not a full-on invasion of the city that President Biden has repeatedly warned against on humanitarian grounds. he said Israel had described it as “an operation of limited scale and duration” aimed at cutting off hamas arms smuggling.
kirby also expressed optimism about the negotiations, saying Israel and hamas “should be able to close the remaining gaps” to complete an agreement, without offering a timetable. he said CIa chief william Burns will attend further talks in Cairo with representatives from Israel, Egypt, and Qatar. hamas also sent a delegation to Cairo, which will meet separately with the arab mediators.
“Everybody is coming to the table,” kirby said.
Fighting forced the evacuation of the abu Youssef al-Najjar hospital, one of the main medical centers receiving people wounded in airstrikes on Rafah in recent weeks. It was not immediately clear how many patients had been moved to other facilities.
the looming operation threatens to widen a rift between Israel and its main backer, the united States, which says it is concerned over the fate of around 1.3 million Palestinians crammed into Rafah, most of whom fled fighting elsewhere.
Biden warned Netanyahu again monday against launching an invasion of the city after Israel ordered 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate from parts of Rafah. But Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners have threatened to bring down his government if he calls off the offensive or makes too many concessions in ceasefire talks.
jOhN kIRBY, White House spokesperson