After having pulled the trigger and gone ahead with its ground invasion of southern Gaza despite calls for ceasefire, Israel seized control of the Rafah border Tuesday morning and thereby closed a crucial point of entry for more ammo—and more humanitarian aid.
Hamas had agreed to a ceasefire agreement established by Egypt and Qatar yesterday, and Israel had announced it was considering it. Hours later, Israel said the deal did not meet its major demands, but agreed to keep engaging in negotiations.
President Joe Biden had warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against invading Rafah over a 30-minute phone call. “The president doesn’t want to see operations in Rafah that put at greater risk the more than a million people that are seeking refuge there,” confirmed White House national security spokesman John Kirby.
BREAKING: Israel has launched a MASSIVE airstrike in Rafah.
Please keep sharing and praying for Rafah.
ALL EYES ON RAFAH pic.twitter.com/OIBL3Yv3kd
— Khalissee (@Kahlissee) May 7, 2024
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ISRAEL IS KILLING OUR CHILDREN IN RAFAH | GAZA pic.twitter.com/wUDWzN500y
— Muhammad Smiry 🇵🇸 (@MuhammadSmiry) May 7, 2024
Then, at 7 PM EST Monday night, Israeli leaders gave a green light to the military invasion of Rafah, immediately triggering Israeli forces to begin striking the city.
Israel had ordered 100,000 people to evacuate of the southern Gaza city, hosting about 1.5 million Palestinians as well as Hamas soldiers, earlier Monday as an humanitarian gesture.
Israeli officials claim the ground invasion is “a very limited” operation to significantly weaken Hamas and bring their leaders to the negotiating table. They said they were dispatching negotiators to Cairo, Egypt today to find common ground between Israel’s and Hamas’ proposals.
This is a developing story. Stay tuned to VT.com for more updates.
Shane Devine is a writer covering politics and business for VT and a regular guest on The Unusual Suspects. Follow Shane’s work here.
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