May 7, 2024 – 09:00
On Tuesday morning, the Israeli army's 401st Armored Brigade occupied the Gaza Strip side of the Rafah border crossing. The Times of Israel.
According to the IDF, Israeli units attacked more than 150 targets on Monday night, killing about 20 terrorists and finding three tunnel exits. During the night operation, Palestinian Islamists tried to attack Israeli forces with a car filled with explosives, but the car was destroyed. The Israeli army believes that the tunnels found are part of an underground defense route belonging to Hamas and do not belong to flights into Egyptian territory, MTI wrote.
Wael Abu Omar, spokesman for the Rafah Border Guard, said that the occupation forces arrived at the Rafah crossing in the Gaza Strip. He said that due to the military activity, the movement of goods and people coming from Egypt at the crossing stopped.
Israel announced months ago that it would send troops to Rafah, the southern city on the border with Egypt, where up to 1.5 million people could currently be living in inhumane conditions alongside more than a million displaced people. Israel believes that thousands of Hamas fighters are holed up in the city, and dozens of hostages are likely being held there. Western leaders expressed concern about the operation.
The Israeli political and military leadership proposed launching an attack on Rafah months ago, and you can read in detail about this matter and the prevailing conditions in the region here.
The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Tuesday that it will send a mediation delegation to Cairo to mediate an agreement between Israel and Hamas aimed at a ceasefire and the release of the hostages. They added that Hamas's response to the proposal can be described as positive.
