This handout picture released by the Israeli army shows Israeli forces operating on the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024. AFP
"Last night, IDF (army) troops managed to establish operational control of the Gazan side of (Rafah) crossing," the military said.
"Right now, at the moment what's happening, we have operational control over the Gazan side of Rafah crossing, and we have special forces scanning the area to find additional terror infrastructure or terrorists," the military said.
"We are only talking about the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing."
The occupation army said it was engaged in a "very targeted operation and a minimal scope against very specific targets" in eastern Rafah.
"A vast amount of the organisation and the people in the area within (which) we gave the evacuation notice yesterday (Monday) moved to a safer zone."
Since the start of its operation in eastern Rafah the military has killed 20 militants, it said.
In Rafah city, Palestine's last sanctuary for civilians in Gaza, nearly 1.5 million residents and displaced Palestinians have sought refuge from Israeli bombing since October 7th.
Earlier on Monday, Egypt warned of the dangers of a possible Israeli military operation in the Palestinian Rafah city in the south of the Gaza Strip, according to a statement by the Foreign Ministry.
The ministry said any such military operation would pose significant humanitarian risks and threaten more than a million Palestinians in that area.
Egypt called on Israel to exercise the utmost restraint and avoid further escalation at this sensitive time during ceasefire negotiations, and to stop the shedding of Palestinian civilian blood who have been facing an unprecedented humanitarian disaster since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.
The statement reaffirmed Egypt’s continued communication around the clock with all parties to prevent the situation from worsening or spiralling out of control.
Short link: