CAIRO (Dispatches) — An 
Israeli tank brigade seized control of Gaza’s vital Rafah crossing Tuesday as the Zionist regime brushed off urgent warnings from close allies and launched an onslaught into the southern city even as ceasefire negotiations with Hamas remained on a knife’s edge.
The UN warned of a potential collapse of the flow of aid to Palestinians from the closure of Rafah and the other main crossing into Gaza, Kerem Shalom, at a time when officials say northern Gaza is experiencing “full-blown famine.”
The Israeli invasion overnight came after hours of whiplash in the now 7-month-old war on Gaza, with Hamas saying Monday it accepted an Egyptian-Qatari mediated ceasefire proposal. The occupying regime of Israel, however, insisted the deal did not meet its core demands.
The Zionist regime intensified its carpet-bombing campaign on Rafah on Monday night and accompanied the strikes with ground advances shortly after Hamas agreed to the U.S.-mediated ceasefire proposal. 
The small town, home to some 1.5 million displaced Palestinians, was struck with airstrikes and artillery shelling, according to Palestinian news outlets.  
The strikes on Rafah come after Hamas announced it accepted a ceasefire proposal from Qatar and Egypt. 
The proposal involves three phases, with the first phase calling for a complete withdrawal of Zionist troops from the Netzarim corridor and the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes. The second phase involves an announcement of a permanent cessation of military operations. In the last phase, there would be a complete end to the blockade of the Gaza Strip. 
In exchange, Israel would be expected to release an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners, withdraw its troops from certain regions of the Gaza Strip, and allow Palestinians to travel from the south of the territory to the north.
Fighting forced the evacuation of the Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital, one of the main medical centers that has been receiving people wounded in airstrikes on Rafah in recent weeks. It was not immediately clear how many patients had been moved to other facilities.
The fate of around 1.3 million Palestinians crammed into Rafah, most of whom have fled fighting elsewhere, is set to turn into a new lightning rod in Israeli genocidal campaign in the Gaza Strip.
On Monday, the Zionist regime ordered 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate from parts of Rafah. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s extremist coalition partners have threatened to bring down his regime if he calls off the invasion or makes concessions in ceasefire talks.
Palestinians’ cheers of joy over Hamas’ acceptance of the ceasefire turned to fear Tuesday. Families fled Rafah’s eastern neighborhoods on foot or in vehicles and donkey carts piled with mattresses and supplies. Children watched as parents disassembled tents in the sprawling camps that have filled Rafah for months to move to their next destination — which for many remained uncertain.
“Netanyahu only cares about coming out on top. He doesn’t care about children. I don’t think he’ll agree” to a deal, said Najwa al-Saksuk as her family packed up while Israeli strikes rang out amid plumes of black smoke.
Families of the captives also saw their hope turn to despair. Rotem Cooper, whose father, Amiram, was among scores captured during Hamas’ Oct. 7 operation, slammed what he said was the Zionist regime’s inaction on a deal.
Israel’s 401st Brigade took “operational control” of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing early Tuesday, the military said. Military footage showed Zionist tanks in the area. It also said troops and airstrikes targeted what it called suspected Hamas positions in Rafah.
Hamas said its fighters clashed with Zionist troops barricaded in a building in Rafah and that it fired rockets on a military facility close to Kerem Shalom.
The Rafah crossing with Egypt and the Kerem Shalom crossing are critical points of entry for food, medicine and other supplies keeping Gaza’s population of 2.3 million alive. They have been closed for at least the past two days.
Israeli authorities denied the UN humanitarian affairs office access to the Rafah crossing Tuesday, said its spokesman, Jens Laerke, warning the disruption could break the fragile aid operation. All fuel for aid trucks and generators comes through Rafah, and Laerke said there was a “very, very short buffer of about one day of fuel.”
Israeli strikes and bombardment across Rafah overnight martyred at least 23 Palestinians, including at least six women and five children, according to hospital records.
Mohamed Abu Amra said his wife, two brothers, sister and niece
 were killed when a strike flattened their home as they slept. 
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry condemned the seizure of the crossing, calling it “a dangerous escalation.”
Egypt has previously warned that any seizure of Rafah — which is supposed to be part of a demilitarized border zone — or an attack that forces Palestinians to flee over the border into Egypt would threaten the 1979 peace treaty with Israel. 
Netanyahu and other top officials have publicly said they plan to resume the invasion after any release of captives and continue it.  
The Zionist regime said the ceasefire proposal that Hamas agreed to did not meet its “core demands.” But it said it would send a delegation to Egypt to continue negotiations. An Egyptian official said delegations from Hamas and Qatar arrived in Cairo on Tuesday.
An Egyptian official and a Western diplomat said the draft Hamas accepted had only minor changes in wording from a version the U.S. had earlier pushed for with Israeli approval. The changes were made in consultation with CIA chief William Burns, who embraced the draft before sending it to Hamas, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the deliberations.
According to a copy released by Hamas, the proposal outlines a phased release of the captives alongside the gradual withdrawal of Zionist troops from the entire enclave and ending with a “sustainable calm,” defined as a “permanent cessation of military and hostile operations.”