Israeli army takes ‘operational control’ of Palestinian side of Rafah border

THE Israeli army has taken “operational control" of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on Tuesday, the military said, adding that they are scanning the area. 

“Last night, IDF (army) troops managed to establish operational control of the Gazan side of (Rafah) crossing. We have special forces scanning the area to find additional terror infrastructure or terrorists. We are only talking about the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing," the military said as quoted by AP. 

Currently, the military is engaged in a "very targeted operation and a very limited scope against very specific targets" in eastern Rafah. Many organizationsThe  and people living in the area have moved to a safer zone. So far, 20 militants have been killed since the beginning of Israeli strikes in Rafah on Monday. 

Israeli military launched targeted strikes against the Hamas militant group in the southern Gaza city of Rafah following the country's war cabinet approval on it, said officials late Monday. This came hours after Hamas accepted the Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire proposal. 

Israel stated that the deal did not meet its “core demands", so the country will continue negotiations and strikes in Rafah. Following this, Qatar's foreign ministry said its delegation will head to Cairo on Tuesday to resume indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

PM Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the truce proposal fell short of Israel's demands but Israel would send a delegation to meet with negotiators to try to reach an agreement. He added that his war cabinet approved continuing an operation in Rafah.

The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and abducting 252 others, of whom 133 are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. More than 34,600 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict.