Israel Seizes Gaza's Rafah Crossing Amid Cease-Fire Talks with Hamas

Israeli troops seized control of Gaza's vital Rafah border crossing on Tuesday in what the White House described as a limited operation. The United Nations warned of a potential collapse of the flow of aid to Palestinians from the closure of the Rafah crossing from Egypt and the other main crossing into Gaza, Kerem Shalom, from Israel. The Israeli foray overnight came after hours of whiplash in the now 7-month-old Israel-Hamas war, with the militant group saying Monday it accepted a cease-fire proposal that Israel insisted fell short of its own core demands.The Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings 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. By capturing the Rafah crossing, Israel gained full control over the entry and exit of people and goods for the first time since it withdrew soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005, though it has long maintained a blockade of the coastal enclave in cooperation with Egypt.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the capture of the crossing an "important step" toward dismantling Hamas military and governing capabilities, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel would "deepen" the Rafah operation if 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.White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the operation along the Gaza-Egypt border in eastern Rafah was not a full-on Israeli invasion of the city that President Joe Biden has repeatedly warned against on humanitarian grounds. Kirby said Israel 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. 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.Fighting forced the evacuation of the Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital, one of the main medical centres receiving people wounded in airstrikes on Rafah in recent weeks. It was not immediately clear how many patients were 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 parts of Rafah. But Netanyahu's far-right coalition partners have threatened to bring down his government if he calls off an offensive or makes too many concessions in cease-fire talks.Israeli strikes and bombardment across Rafah overnight killed at least 23 Palestinians, including at least six women and five children, according to hospital records. Egypt's Foreign Ministry condemned the seizure of the Rafah crossing, calling it "a dangerous escalation." It has previously warned that any occupation of Rafah — which is supposed to be part of a demilitarized border zone — or an attack that forces Palestinians to flee into Egypt would threaten the 1979 peace treaty with Israel that's been a linchpin for regional security.Netanyahu has said an offensive to take Rafah — which Israel calls Hamas' last major stronghold in Gaza — is crucial to destroying Hamas after its October attack on southern Israel that triggered the war. Hamas and other militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 250 hostages. The United States, Egypt and Qatar have spent months trying to broker a cease-fire agreement and the release of the estimated 100 hostages and remains of 30 others still held by Hamas, which insists it will not release them unless Israel ends the war and withdraws from Gaza.Netanyahu and other top officials have publicly rejected those demands, saying they plan to launch the offensive after any hostage release and continue until Hamas is destroyed. For now, the hostages serve as Hamas' strongest bargaining chip and potential human shields for its leaders. An Egyptian official and a Western diplomat said the draft Hamas accepted had only minor changes in wording from a version the U.S. had earlier pushed for with Israeli approval. The changes were made in consultation with the CIA chief, who embraced the draft before sending it to Hamas.