Israel’s advance into Rafah and seizure of a crucial border crossing on Tuesday has sparked worldwide debate and criticism as about 1.4 million civilians seeking shelter in the southern Gaza city were caught in the middle of potential invasion.
Israel started launching precise attacks in eastern Rafah on Monday night before taking control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, which is the only entry point between Gaza and Egypt and an important route for humanitarian aid.
This happened shortly after approximately 100,000 Palestinians in eastern Rafah were told to evacuate immediately, and Israeli bombs began falling on residential areas.
The U.S. ally proceeded with the attack after stating terms for a cease-firethat Hamas agreed to on Monday were far from meeting its demands, and instead pledged to exert military pressure on Hamas in Rafah.
Officials from the Biden administration on Tuesday affirmed that they trusted Israeli assurances that the operation was limited and aimed to prevent Hamas from transporting weapons into Rafah.
However, other international leaders, including the United Nations chief, have stated that any attack on Rafah would cause a humanitarian crisis and urged both sides to immediately agree to a cease-fire.
Here are the main points to understand from this situation.
The military significance of Rafah for Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has portrayed Israel’s military operation in Rafah as a way to both free the remaining hostages in Gaza and ultimately eliminate Hamas.
“The entrance to Rafah serves two main goals in the conflict: The release of our hostages and the removal of Hamas,” Netanyahu stated in a video on Tuesday, announcing that the Israeli military began operations overnight.
He added that “military pressure on Hamas is necessary for the release of our hostages,” accusing Hamas of trying to sabotage the entry of Israeli forces into Rafah with its agreement to the cease-fire proposal. This did not happen.”
There are an estimated 133 Israeli hostages still in Gaza, but it’s unknown how many are alive or under Hamas control.
Israel has demanded the evacuation of 40 of the most vulnerable hostages — children, women, the elderly, and the injured — as part of the first phase of any cease-fire deal. However, Hamas negotiators have indicated they do not have nearly enough people in those categories to reach that number.
Another obstacle to reaching an agreement is the duration of a cease-fire. Hamas wants the pause to ultimately end the war, while Israel aims to only halt its fighting long enough to secure the hostages before eliminating Hamas from Gaza.
Rafah is the critical point in the crisis, with Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz stating that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operations in the city will “continue and expand as necessary.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, on the other hand, declared on Tuesday that his country’s advancement into Gaza will continue until Hamas is eradicated in Rafah and across the territory, or until the last hostage is freed.
It risks involving Egypt
An invasion of Rafah also poses a risk of involving Egypt in the conflict, which would further strain an already volatile region.
Egypt, with the United States and Qatar, has been working for weeks on a truce proposal between Israel and Hamas to secure the release of Israeli hostages.
Egypt has a special interest in brokering such a deal because it shares a border with Gaza and wants to prevent Palestinian refugees from entering its territory.
However, Egypt's foreign ministry criticized Israel on Tuesday for closing the Rafah border crossing, describing the action as a "dangerous escalation."
The ministry stated that the closure endangers the lives of over a million Palestinians who rely on this crossing as the main link to the Gaza Strip, and warned Israel not to jeopardize a potential ceasefire.
Egypt has also previously cautioned that any influx of Palestinian refugees caused by Israel could cancel out its long-standing peace treaty with Israel, established in 1979, which has been crucial for stability in the Middle East.
The 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel has been very important for maintaining stability in the Middle East.
A worsening humanitarian crisis
Before a full-scale military invasion into Rafah, Israel instructed around 100,000 civilians in parts of eastern Rafah to immediately relocate to the coastal town of Al-Mawasi. However, aid groups cautioned that it was not a suitable area to live, with the UN human rights chief calling the order "inhumane."
“Gazans are still being bombed, facing disease, and even famine. And now, they have been told to move once again as Israeli military operations in Rafah intensify,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk stated. “This is inhumane.”
His colleague, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, previously warned that a ground invasion in Rafah would be unacceptable due to its devastating humanitarian impact and its potential for destabilizing the region.
UN and humanitarian organizations in Gaza have warned that the territory is experiencing full-blown famine due to a severe lack of access to food and medical supplies.
On Tuesday, UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, cautioned that humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza could worsen due to Israeli control of the Rafah border crossing.
“Continued interruption of the entry of aid and fuel supplies at the Rafah crossing will halt the critical humanitarian response across the Gaza Strip,” UNRWA stated on X.
The agency added that the "catastrophic hunger faced by people, especially in northern Gaza, will worsen if these supply routes are interrupted.
Growing international pressure
Global leaders were quick to criticize Israel for its move into Rafah and its refusal to rule out a full-scale invasion in that area.
Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, and several United Nations agencies called out Israel’s apparent plans as a dangerous escalation.
Guterres urged Israel and Hamas to “show the political courage and spare no effort to secure an agreement now to stop the bloodshed, free the hostages, and help stabilize a region at risk of explosion.”
“Things are heading in the wrong direction,” he added.
In the West, the European Union’s top diplomat, foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell, feared a Rafah invasion “is going to cause again a lot of civilian casualties, whatever they say.
Borrell said on Tuesday that there are 600,000 children in Gaza who will be moved to 'safety zones,' but he believes there are no safe zones in Gaza.
Hanan Balkhy, the regional director of the World Health Organization, cautioned that Israel's military operation endangers the lives of 1.5 million people and urged the urgent reopening of the border crossing.
Erika Guevara-Rosas, an official from Amnesty International, described the Rafah operation as a cruel and inhumane move that demonstrates the disastrous impact on civilians.
She urged all states to pressure Israel to stop its ground operations in Rafah and guarantee unhindered access for humanitarian aid, in line with their duty to prevent genocide.
Even the United States has become frustrated with Israel's position in recent months, and there were suggestions last week that Washington might reconsider its support for Israel if more is not done to protect civilians and aid workers in Gaza.
This threat appeared to be realized when reports surfaced on Tuesday about a delayed ammunition delivery to Israel, marking the first time the U.S. has withheld lethal aid to the country since its war against Hamas began in October.
