The Israeli Defense Forces took control of the Rafah border crossing—the only crossing point between Gaza and Egypt—early on Tuesday after an overnight offensive, hours after Israeli officials rejected a cease-fire proposal agreed to by Hamas and vowed to press on with its offensive.
File Photo: An Israeli tank brigade took control of the Rafah border crossing on the Gazan side on ... [+]
Citing an IDF statement, Haaretz reported the crossing was captured by an armored brigade and the Israeli forces are now fully in control of the Gazan side of the border crossing.
The IDF also claimed it had killed 20 Hamas operatives during the operation and discovered three “significant” tunnels in the area.
The Israeli military also captured a part of the Salah a-Din road—the main highway running through the Gaza Strip—in eastern Rafah and cut it off from the border crossing.
Wael Abu Omer, the Rafah crossing communications director from the Hamas-run administration, shared footage of Israeli tanks at the crossing and confirmed its capture by the IDF.
Omer claimed the cross has not been operational since Monday afternoon due to the military offensive and all flow of humanitarian aid from the Egyptian side has been halted.
This is a developing story.