Humanitarian aid flow impacted as Israeli forces take control of Gaza side of Rafah crossing

Israeli forces on Tuesday (May 7) seized control of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. Tanks pushed into Rafah, marking it Israel's first ground incursion into the southern Gazan city. The Rafah crossing is the main entry point for humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

The United Nations said that the Israeli authorities have denied access to it.Wael Abu Omar, who is a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority, said the crossingwas out of service.

"The whole western area (of Rafah) has become a theatre of operations since yesterday. The bombardment has not stopped," said Abu Omar as reported by the news agencies.

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He added that crews have fled the facilities because of the bombing.Omar added that the travel and the flow of aid into the Strip via Rafah have "stopped completely".

Hamas said on Monday that it had accepted a Gaza ceasefire proposal from Egypt and Qatar, and later accused Israel of trying to undermine the truce talks taking place in Cairo by mounting the offensive.

The ground invasion began a day after Israel warned Palestinians in the area to evacuate. More than one million people sought refuge from months of Israeli bombardment in Rafah, and the military's thrust was said to be catastrophic amid a deteriorating humanitarian situation.

People took refuge in Rafah. They were living in tented camps and makeshift shelters. On being ordered by the Israeli side, many are trying to leave. But they have nowhere safe to go.

In army footage, tanks with Israeli flags were seen taking "operational control" of the Palestinian side of the border crossing, in a deployment that had a "very limited scope against very specific targets".

Rafah was also rocked by heavy bombardments overnight, with the Kuwaiti hospital saying that 23 people were killed. The Najjar hospital said another four people were killed, AFP reported.

Meanwhile, Israeli tanks and planes also attacked several areas and houses there overnight. The Gaza health ministry said Israeli strikes across the enclave had killed 54 Palestinians and wounded 96 others in the past 24 hours.

The Israeli military said a limited operation in Rafah was meant to kill fighters and dismantle infrastructure used by Hamas, which governs Gaza.

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UN on Rafah crossing

Jens Laerke, who is the spokesman for the UN's humanitarian agency OCHA, said there was only a one-day buffer of fuel to run humanitarian operations inside the besieged Palestinian territory.

"We currently do not have any physical presence at theRafahcrossing as our access... has been denied by COGAT," he said, referring to the Israeli agency that oversees supplies into the Palestinian territories.

"We have been told there will be no crossings of personnel or goods in or out for the time being. That has a massive impact on how much stock do we have."

"There's a very, very short buffer of one day of fuel available."

"As fuel only comes in throughRafah, the one day buffer is for the entire operation in Gaza."

Disclaimer: WION takes utmost care to accurately and responsibly report ongoing developments on the Israel-Palestine conflict after the Hamas attacks. However, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.

(With inputs from agencies)