The Israeli army said it took "operational control" of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Tuesday, May 7, and that troops were scanning the area.
"Last night, IDF (army) troops managed to establish operational control of the Gazan side of (Rafah) crossing," the military said. "Right now, at the moment what's happening, we have operational control over the Gazan side of Rafah crossing, and we have special forces scanning the area to find additional terror infrastructure or terrorists," the military said. "We are only talking about the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing."
The military said it was currently engaged in a "very targeted operation and a very limited scope against very specific targets" in eastern Rafah. "A vast amount of the organization and the people in the area within (which) we gave the evacuation notice yesterday (Monday) moved to a safer zone." Since the start of its operation in eastern Rafah the military has killed 20 militants, it said.
Wael Abu Omar, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Crossings Authority, acknowledged Israeli forces had seized the crossing and had closed the facility for the time being. He said strikes had targeted the area around the crossing since Monday.
The move comes after hours of whiplash in the Israel-Hamas war, with Hamas on Monday saying it accepted an Egyptian-Qatari mediated ceasefire proposal. Israel, meanwhile, insisted the deal did not meet its core demands. The high-stakes diplomatic moves and military brinkmanship left a glimmer of hope alive – but only barely – for an accord that could bring at least a pause in the 7-month-old war that has devastated the Gaza Strip.