The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on Tuesday called on the US administration and the international community to put pressure on Israel to stop the storming of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt as Israeli attacks raised concerns of more suffering in Gaza on top of what the United Nations has described as “beyond already unbearable levels”.

Hamas said in a statement the attack on Rafah is "a dangerous escalation against a civilian facility protected by international law, aiming to exacerbate the humanitarian situation in the strip, by closing it and preventing the flow of emergency relief aid through it to our besieged people."

Hamas added that the escalation threatens the lives of hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians in Rafah and the entire Gaza Strip. At least 20 people had been killed in the Israeli advance.

Israel's military said on Tuesday that it had taken control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing in an overnight attack. The crossing, which has served as a passage for humanitarian aid from Egypt to war-torn Gaza, was out of service

Israel's military said on Tuesday that it had taken control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing in an overnight attack. The crossing, which has served as a passage for humanitarian aid from Egypt to war-torn Gaza, was out of service.

After Hamas accepted peace proposals brokered by Egypt and Qatar, Israel’s latest attack on Rafah again dampened hopes of a long-awaited truce. 

This could also cripple the already narrow flow and slow pace of essential humanitarian aid reaching Gaza, experts warned.

READ MORE: Blinken tells Netanyahu US opposes Rafah ground attack plan

International humanitarian organizations have for weeks warned that famine was imminent. Executive director of the World Food Programme Cindy McCain said she believed "full-blown famine" was already happening in northern Gaza.

Palestinian news agency WAFA reported Israeli carpet-bombing areas east of the city of Rafah amid fears of a looming ground invasion of the densely populated province.

President of the United Nations General Assembly Dennis Francis said on X, formerly Twitter, that Israel’s attack on Rafah was “inconsiderate” and “nothing can justify it”. He said it meant “more humanitarian catastrophe”, noting this is a “critical moment to take decisive steps toward a permanent cease-fire”.

On May 6, media reported that Ismail Haniyeh, the supreme leader of Hamas, had confirmed the group's acceptance of what it stated were Israel's cease-fire terms after Qatari and Egyptian-mediated truce efforts.

The statement added that Israel’s war cabinet unanimously decided to continue its operation in Rafah, to apply military pressure on Hamas to advance the release of our hostages and achieve the other objectives of the war

However, widespread media reports citing an Israeli official followed, with Israel saying that the terms Hamas agreed were not the ones they had agreed to.

“While the Hamas proposal is far from meeting Israel's core demands, Israel will dispatch a ranking delegation to Egypt in an effort to maximize the possibility of reaching an agreement on terms acceptable to Israel,” read a May 6 statement released by the Israeli Prime Minister’s office.

The statement added that Israel’s war cabinet unanimously decided to continue its operation in Rafah, to apply military pressure on Hamas to advance the release of our hostages and achieve the other objectives of the war.

Haydar Oruc, a former researcher at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies in Turkiye, told China Daily that when Hamas accepted the ceasefire plan presented by Egypt and Qatar, “all eyes turned to Israel”.

“But Israel, as expected, rejected the ceasefire agreement accepted by Hamas, showing once again that it is the party that wants the war to continue,” said Oruc.

Earlier, Majed bin Mohammed Al-Ansari, the official spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, announced that Hamas responded to a proposal from mediators and that the response “can be described as positive”.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also welcomed Egyptian-Qatari efforts to reach a cease-fire agreement in Gaza, as he called on the international community to also exert pressure on Israel to compel it to abide by this agreement, WAFA reported.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned that civilian deaths, suffering, and destruction “were set to increase beyond already unbearable levels” following Israel’s orders to Palestinians to evacuate parts of Rafah.

The UNRWA will maintain a presence in Rafah “as long as possible” and “will continue providing life-saving aid to people” as it anticipated the consequences “would be devastating for 1.4 million people”

He also emphasized that Gazans “continue to be hit with bombs, disease, and even famine” and that they have been told that they “must relocate yet again as Israeli military operations into Rafah scale up”.

He called the latest developments “inhumane” and “runs contrary to the basic principles of international humanitarian and human rights laws”, which have the effective protection of civilians as their overriding concern.

“Forcibly relocating hundreds of thousands from Rafah to areas which have already been flattened and where there is little shelter and virtually no access to humanitarian assistance necessary for their survival is inconceivable,” said Turk.

Despite the situation, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said on X that it was not evacuating.

The UNRWA will maintain a presence in Rafah “as long as possible” and “will continue providing life-saving aid to people” as it anticipated the consequences “would be devastating for 1.4 million people”, it wrote.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia warned of the dangers of the “Israeli occupation forces” targeting Rafah.

Oruc, from CMES in Turkiye, said despite calls and warnings against launching an attack on Rafah, Israel showed it was “not only aiming to eliminate Hamas, but it was also to occupy the whole of Gaza and annex it to its territory”

In a statement, it said it sees the attack “as part of its systematic blood campaign to storm all areas of the Gaza Strip and displace its residents towards the unknown”, given the lack of safe zones after the mass destruction “caused by the Israeli war machine”.

It also emphasized its “categorical rejection of the occupation forces’ continued blatant violations of all international resolutions” and called for “the cessation of these massacres” and their violation of international law and international humanitarian law “without deterrence”.

“The Ministry renewed the Kingdom’s demand for the international community to intervene immediately to stop the genocide carried out by the occupation forces against defenseless civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories,” it added.

Oruc, from CMES in Turkiye, said despite calls and warnings against launching an attack on Rafah, Israel showed it was “not only aiming to eliminate Hamas, but it was also to occupy the whole of Gaza and annex it to its territory”.

READ MORE: Israel's Netanyahu says date for ground attack on Rafah set

“With this latest move, Israel has once again demonstrated that it does not recognize international law,” he said.

Oruc also said if Israel is not held accountable, it may “continue such actions and will try to swallow Gaza today and possibly the West Bank tomorrow”.

“This is why the whole world must react to Israel and take the necessary coercive measures to prevent its expansionism,” he added.

With inputs from Xinhua

Contact the writer at jan@chinadailyapac.com