Wednesday Briefing: Israel in Rafah; Negotiators in Cairo

A destroyed building in Rafah.Credit…Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Negotiators arrived in Cairo after Israeli tanks entered Rafah

Israel sent tanks into Rafah yesterday and seized control of the border crossing with Egypt, halting the flow of aid. Delegations from Israel and Hamas also arrived in Cairo to resume talks on a proposed deal for a cease-fire.

Here’s the latest.

Israel’s operation did not appear to be the long-threatened full ground invasion. The Israeli military called it “a very precise” counterterrorism operation. It said it had gone into the city to destroy Hamas infrastructure used in an attack that killed four Israeli soldiers over the weekend near another border crossing, this one from Israel into Gaza.

The head of a hospital in Rafah said that 27 bodies and 150 wounded people had been brought to his facility since the start of the incursion.

Rafah’s so-called safe zone: The area Israel has designated as a safe zone for Gazans fleeing the city is neither safe nor equipped to receive them, U.N. and European officials said yesterday. The head of the Norwegian Refugee Council said in a statement that the area was “already overstretched and devoid of vital services.”

Updates on cease-fire talks: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under pressure from the U.S. and other allies to agree to a cease-fire, said that while he had sent a delegation back to the talks, “in tandem, we continue waging the war on Hamas.”