RAFAH: Israeli forces seized the main border crossing between Egypt and southern Gaza on Tuesday, shutting down a vital aid route into the Palestinian enclave that is already on the brink of famine.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas accused Israel of trying to undermine efforts to secure a ceasefire in the seven-month-long war that has laid waste to Gaza and left hundreds of thousands of its people homeless and hungry.
Israeli army footage showed tanks rolling through the Rafah crossing complex and the Israeli flag raised on the Gaza side.
UN and other international aid agencies said the closing of the two crossings into southern Gaza Rafah and Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom had virtually cut the enclave off from outside aid and very few stores were available inside.
Red Crescent sources in Egypt said shipments had completely halted. “The Israeli occupation has sentenced the residents of the Strip to death,” said Hisham Edwan, spokesperson for the Gaza Border Crossing Authority.
The seizure of the Rafah crossing came despite weeks of calls from the United States, other goverments and international bodies for Israel to hold off from a big offensive in the Rafah area – said by Israel to be the last stronghold of Hamas fighters but also the refuge of more than one million displaced Palestinian civilians.