Israel said on Tuesday that it had seized the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing to cut off a “lifeline” for Hamas.

In an overnight operation, tanks of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) entered the Gaza Strip to seize the crossing, which has been used to deliver supplies of aid.

Video footage from the operation showed one tank rolling over and crushing a welcome sign saying “I love Gaza”. In another clip tanks carrying huge Israeli flags can be seen driving down a road by the border with Egypt.

Israeli officials said that the raid was “very limited” in scope, suggesting it did not form the prelude to an immediate ground operation in Rafah, which the US and Western allies firmly oppose.

The raid came after Israel on Monday rejected Hamas’ agreement to a ceasefire proposal, saying the deal the terrorist group had signed up to did not meet its key demands.

Avi Hyman, a spokesman for the National Public Diplomacy Directorate, said that Israel would no longer allow the crossing to transport supplies to Hamas.

“This is the beginning of our mission to take out the last four Hamas brigades in Rafah,” he said, dampening hopes of a hostage deal in the near term.

In a separate briefing, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer claimed that Hamas has “cross-border underground smuggling tunnels” underneath the Rafah crossing infrastructure.

“These Hamas tunnels must be dealt with to shut off arms to the terrorists,” Mr Mencer said.

On Tuesday, Israel sent a ‘mid-level’ delegation to Cairo to discuss Hamas’s proposal in more depth with Bill Burns, CIA director, also set to attend.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has said he will not sign up to any deal that requires Israel to stop fighting in Gaza after the release of the 133 hostages currently held by Hamas. 

The leadership of Hamas has indicated that ending the war permanently is their own red line.

The IDF’s operations at the Rafah crossing threatened supplies of aid into the territory, the UN and other aid agencies said.

“We currently do not have any physical presence at the Rafah crossing as our access … has been denied by Cogat [Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories],” Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN’s OCHA [Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs], told a press conference in Geneva, referring to the IDF’s agency overseeing supplies into the Palestinian territories.

All fuel going into Gaza crosses via Rafah, Mr Laerke said, warning that the enclave has only one day of fuel reserves.

The World Health Organisation also confirmed that Israel is not allowing transfer of patients through Rafah.

The other crossing for supplies for Gaza has remained closed since Sunday when Hamas mortar fire targeted Israeli troops at a staging ground nearby, killing four of them.

Another mortar attack at the Kerem Shalom crossing was reported early on Tuesday.

Inside Gaza, Palestinians reacted anxiously to initial reports that Israeli tanks were operating on the border with Egypt.

Speaking to The Telegraph over the phone from the west of Rafah, Mohammad Najjar, a student, said that the night was “very difficult”.

From east to west, Rafah is no wider than 15 kilometres (9 miles), he said, so the IDF are “very close” to where he is and everyone is, “of course”, worried about what might happen next. 

“Until this moment we can hear the bombing,” he said, following a night of artillery, drones and air strikes.

The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday urged the US to “intervene immediately” to stop Israel from invading Rafah.

Nabil Abu Rudeina, the spokesman for the Palestinian presidency, said Israel has committed a “crime” by seizing the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing and blasted the “unacceptable international silence”.

Israel’s decision to enter Rafah despite warnings from its allies is damaging its stature in the world and prospects for a hostage deal, critics of Mr Netanyahu have warned.

“If this move scuttles a hostage deal – that would be very grave. There is a lie and a fallacy here that has been built up entirely by Netanyahu as if the Rafah story is [the key to] either ultimate success or total failure, and nothing is more inane than that,” Maj Gen (res) Yair Golan, a former member of parliament, told Israel’s army radio.