Israeli forces have now “blocked” the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings, the two main routes for aid entering Gaza, U.N. officials said on Tuesday. Warning of humanitarian crisis Things will get worse in the enclaves.
Egypt’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that Israel’s occupation of the Rafah crossing was a “dangerous escalation” that threatened the lives of Palestinians seeking refuge in the city.
The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell Fontales, also condemned the Israeli attack.
“Despite all the demands from the international community, the United States, EU member states, and everyone asking Netanyahu not to attack Rafah, the ground offensive against Rafah has begun again,” he told reporters in Brussels. “I’m afraid. This will again cause massive casualties, civilian casualties.”
Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, said the blockade prevented 46 injured and sick people from leaving Gaza for treatment in Egypt. Gaza’s health ministry said the patients included people suffering from breast cancer, lymphoma and other diseases.
President Biden has urged Mr Netanyahu not to launch a full-scale invasion of Rafah, warning it would be devastating to Palestinian civilians.
White House spokesman Kirby said on Tuesday that Israel had told the Biden administration that its operations in Rafah were “limited” and “aimed at cutting off Hamas’s ability to smuggle weapons into Gaza.” Kirby said the government remained opposed to a full-scale invasion of Rafah.
The Israeli military said its forces discovered three tunnel shafts in the area near the Rafah crossing. That claim could not immediately be confirmed. Israeli and Egyptian officials have said in the past that Gaza’s border with Egypt is a route for smuggling weapons into the coastal enclave.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said he inspected troops near Rafah and operations there would continue until the last Hamas brigade in the city was destroyed “or until the first hostage returns to Israel.” .
