Sabra Lane: Humanitarian groups say Israel's seizure of their main border crossing into Gaza means most Palestinians in the besieged territory have been cut off from aid. Israeli military seized the Rafah border crossing with Egypt yesterday after the Islamist group Hamas accepted a ceasefire proposal to end the fighting in Gaza. Aid groups say they're running out of fuel and won't be able to provide water to displace people inside Gaza unless Israel reopens the crossing immediately. From Jerusalem, Eric Tlozek reports.
Eric Tlozek: Fearful of an Israeli invasion, displaced Palestinians are dismantling the makeshift shelters that have been their homes in southern Gaza for the past few months. They're taking the foraged pieces of wood and plastic further north, where they believe they might be safe from the Israeli military.
Eric Tlozek: "We will move. We will look for somewhere safe" this woman, Fedaa Shallah, says. "We don't even know where this safe place is exactly. I don't see there is any place safe". These people rely on aid from United Nations agencies to survive. But the UN says Israel has closed all the crossings in southern Gaza, meaning it's running out of fuel, food and water. Displaced Palestinian Mahdi Al Tarabin understands the significance of that. "This is death", he says. "The shutting of the border is the end for us". The Israeli military says 60 aid trucks entered the north of Gaza through a newly opened crossing. But that aid is for the people in the north, not a resupply for the UN in the south. Jens Laerke from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which oversees relief efforts in Gaza, says it's a desperate situation.
Jens Laerke: Currently, the two main arteries for getting aid into Gaza is currently choked off. Indeed, this morning is one of the darkest in this seven month long nightmare.
Eric Tlozek: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the military was told to enter Rafah against international objections, even though Hamas had accepted a ceasefire deal. The Hamas proposal yesterday was intended to prevent the entry of our forces into Rafah, he says. It did not happen. As the war cabinet unanimously determined, the Hamas proposal is very far from Israel's necessary requirements. Israel will not allow Hamas to restore its evil rule in the Gaza Strip. Israel has sent what it calls a mid-level negotiating team to Cairo to discuss the ceasefire proposal with Hamas. A new poll yesterday found a majority of Israelis think a ceasefire is more important than attacking Rafah. Palestinians hope those Israelis can convince their government. Mohamed Najjar, a 23-year-old student in Rafah, says he thinks the Israeli invasion of his city is a political move and won't block a ceasefire being signed. "There are a lot of clashes", he says. "I believe that Netanyahu is doing all that to please the right wing of his party and it will be limited". There are two million Gazans and many Israeli families hoping he's right. From Jerusalem, this is Eric Tlozek reporting for AM.
