The United Nations and some aid agencies have slammed the Israeli army for cutting off an essential aid route by seizing the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and southern Gaza.
The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, demanded that Israel reopen two key land crossings to enable desperately needed aid supplies to reach Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel seized the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing earlier on Tuesday, as ceasefire talks with the Palestinian group Hamas remain unconcluded, after Hamas said late on Monday that it had accepted a Gaza ceasefire proposal put forward by Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
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Israel says the proposal fell short of Israeli requirements and that it would send a delegation to meet the mediators.
UN Chief Guterres warned that an assault on Rafah, where more than 1.4 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering, would, in his own words, be a strategic mistake, a political calamity and a humanitarian nightmare.
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