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☆ Israeli forces take control of the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

An Israeli tank brigade seized control Tuesday of the Gaza Strip side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, authorities said, moving forward with an offensive in the southern city even as cease-fire negotiations with Hamas remain on a knife's edge. The Israeli 401st Brigade entered the Rafah crossing early Tuesday morning, the Israeli military said, taking "operational control" of the crucial crossing. Footage released by the Israeli military showed a tank entering the crossing. The Israeli military claimed it seized the crossing after receiving intelligence it was "being used for terrorist purposes." Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority, acknowledged Israeli forces had seized the crossing and had closed the facility for the time being.

Persons: brinkmanship, Wael Abu Omar, Israel that's Organizations: Palestinian, Hamas, Israeli 401st Brigade, Palestinian Crossings Authority, Egyptian Foreign Ministry Locations: Rafah, Gaza, Israel, Israeli, Egypt, Kerem, Wael, United States

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel has not presented specific evidence that Hamas is diverting U.N. aid and its recent targeted killings of Gaza police commanders safeguarding truck convoys have made it “virtually impossible” to distribute the goods safely, a top U.S. envoy said in rare public criticism of Israel. “We are working with the Israeli government, the Israeli military in seeing what solutions can be found here because everyone wants to see the assistance continue,” Satterfield told the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Friday. On Friday, police opened fire after a crowd charged toward an aid truck that had emerged from the Rafah crossing with Egypt. Israel has alleged repeatedly that Hamas is diverting aid, including fuel, after it enters Gaza, a claim denied by U.N. aid agencies. Last week, an Israeli airstrike on a car killed three senior police commanders in Rafah, the first entry point for aid deliveries.

Persons: — Israel, Israel, David Satterfield, Biden, ” Satterfield, Wael Abu Omar, Satterfield, Joe Biden, Diaa Rashwan, Khan Younis, Gaza’s, city's Nasser, ___ Magdy Organizations: Carnegie Endowment, International, Authority, U.N, Hamas, Ministry, Islamic, Authorities, State Information Service, Gaza Health Ministry, Health Ministry Locations: RAFAH, Gaza, U.S, Rafah, Egypt, Israel, EGYPT, Khan, Cairo, ___, israel

☆ Gaza families flee again to shrinking, overcrowded pocket of land
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Bassam Masoud | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"We are getting ready to leave Khan Younis, heading to Rafah. But in Rafah, displaced people said their living conditions were horrible. Palestinians fleeing north Gaza walk towards the south, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in the central Gaza Strip, November 9, 2023. Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 240 hostages, according to Israel's tally. More than 15,800 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's military response in Gaza, according to figures from Gaza health officials deemed reliable by the United Nations.

Persons: Khan, KHAN YOUNIS, Khan Younis, Nasser, Abu Omar, Enas Mosleh, Mohammed Salem, Hassan al, Fadi Shana, Saleh, Maggie Fick, Estelle Shirbon, Timothy Organizations: Hamas, REUTERS, United Nations, Nasser, Timothy Heritage, Thomson Locations: Khan Younis, Rafah, Gaza, Israel, Egypt, Palestinian, Beit Hanoun, Saleh Salem, Beirut

The Israeli military would not answer questions about whether its forces shot and killed Palestinians trying to go back to their homes. Ahead of the cease-fire, Israel had warned Gazans that it would prohibit them from trying to move from southern Gaza to the north during the cessation in hostilities. On Friday morning, Kareem al-Nasir, 30, joined thousands of other Palestinians trying to return from central Gaza to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip. But as they tried to make their way along a road on foot, he said, Israeli forces nearby opened fire on them. “No one feels safe,” said Mohammad al-Masri, a local journalist who last week fled his home in northern Gaza to Khan Younis.

Persons: Gazans, Israel, ”, Omar Shakir, Kareem al, Nasir, “, Mr, Khan Younis, Nayrouz, ” Ms, Qarmout, Wael Abu Omar, Mohammad al, Masri, ” Vivian Yee Organizations: Human Rights Watch, “, Hamas Locations: Gaza, Israel, Palestine, Gaza City, Deir al, Beit Hanoun, Palestinian, Rafah

The Hamas-run government said airstrikes killed and wounded many people, but the exact toll was not yet known. The toll from Tuesday's strikes was also unknown, though the director of a nearby hospital said hundreds were killed or wounded. Dozens of people could be seen entering the Rafah crossing — the only one currently operating — and ambulances carrying wounded Palestinians exited on the Egyptian side. Egypt had earlier said that more than 80 Palestinians — out of many thousands wounded in the war — would also be brought in for treatment. Over 1,400 people have died on the Israeli side, mainly civilians killed during Hamas’ initial attack, also an unprecedented figure.

Persons: Israel, Ayman al, Israel “, Wael Abu Omar, Mohamed Zaqout, Paltel, ” Alp Toker, Cross, ”, Jessica Moussan, Antony Blinken, Mahmoud Abbas, Daniel Hagari, “, ___ Magdy, Wafaa Shurafa, Amy Teibel Organizations: Hamas, Wednesday, Palestinian, Authority, Health Ministry, Associated Press, POWER, COMMUNICATIONS, Committee, ICRC, Palestinian Health Ministry, Palestinian Authority, West Bank, U.S Locations: RAFAH, Gaza, Gaza City, Jordan, Israel, U.S, Egypt, GAZA, Rafah, Palestinian, Turkish, Gaza’s, Syria, Iran, Eilat, Red Sea, Yemen, Cairo, Deir al, Jerusalem, israel

Yet over the last three weeks of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, Rafah has become the focus of heated negotiations, a place where many people, both powerful and powerless, have pinned their waning hopes. So far, nothing and no one has been able to come out of Gaza. Aid trucks and army tanks lined the dusty road leading to the crossing. On Tuesday, 83 trucks arrived in Gaza, said Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing. There is still a chance that an agreement could come together for people with foreign passports to leave.

Persons: we’ve, Mostafa Madbouly, Wael Abu Omar, David M, ”, Israel, ’, Madbouly, Mustafa Mouftah, Mr, Satterfield, Biden, Hiba, Iyad Abuheweila Organizations: Gaza’s General Authority, ”, European Union, U.S, United Locations: Cairo, Rafah, Egypt, Gaza, Israel, North, United States, Egyptian, El Arish

☆ The fate of many Gazans lies with the Rafah crossing, and Egypt.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Vivian Yee | More About Vivian Yee | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

On the far side of the Sinai Peninsula, about a six-hour drive from Cairo through a largely empty Egyptian desert, the Rafah crossing is a dun-colored expanse of sand, concrete and not much else. Yet over the last three weeks of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, Rafah has become the focus of heated negotiations, a place where many people, both powerful and powerless, have pinned their waning hopes. Egypt highlighted that role on Tuesday, when the government took reporters on a tightly controlled trip to Rafah. Aid trucks and army tanks lined the dusty road leading to the crossing. On Tuesday, 83 trucks arrived in Gaza, said Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing.

Aid convoy trucks waiting at the Rafah border crossing to enter Gaza from Egypt on Thursday. As Gaza grapples with an escalating humanitarian crisis, the prospect of getting aid through the closed Rafah border crossing with Egypt has taken on particular urgency. Hopes are high that the aid trucks would be able to cross into Gaza on Friday, according to European Union officials coordinating aid from the bloc. The American, U.N. and Egyptian officials are discussing who would carry out those cargo inspections, a person directly familiar with the matter said, requesting anonymity to speak about the delicate negotiations. “All of Gaza is waiting for the aid,” Wael Abu Omar, the spokesman for Hamas’s interior ministry, said Thursday.

Persons: Biden, Israel, ”, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, “, António Guterres, Martin Griffiths, Samar Abu Elouf, Wael Abu Omar, Israel readies, Abood, Okal, ” Iyad Abuheweila, Yazbek Organizations: Diplomats, European Union, World Health Organization, International Committee, The New York Times, Palestinian Locations: Rafah, Gaza, Egypt, Israel, Arish, Palestine, Cairo, U.S, Samar, E.U, Palestinian American, Jerusalem

☆ ISIS acknowledges the death of its leader, announces his successor
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Eyad Kourdi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —ISIS acknowledged the death of its leader Abu al-Hasan al-Hashmi al-Qurayshi on Wednesday and confirmed his successor. US Central Command confirmed his death on Wednesday, saying the ISIS leader was killed in mid-October by the Free Syrian Army. The deceased leader was appointed by ISIS after US President Joe Biden announced the death of Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi in a military operation in the northwest of Syria. Abu al-Hasan’s predecessor, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, died in February during a US counterterrorism raid in northwest Syria. The raid was the biggest US raid in the country since the 2019 operation that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and came amid a resurgence of the group in Syria and Iraq.

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