Israel’s closure of Rafah crossing ‘unacceptable’: USA

The closure of Gaza’s Rafah crossing is ‘unacceptable’, the US has said. The Israeli forces (IDF) took control of this crossing on the Egyptian border on Tuesday morning after airstrikes in the city of Rafah overnight last Monday, killing at least 20 people. AFP reported this information in a report on Wednesday.

The White House said on Tuesday that closing the Gaza border crossing was “unacceptable” after Israel sent tanks to the southern Gaza town of Rafah and took control of a border crossing with Egypt, AFP reported on Wednesday.

White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre said in a briefing that crossings that have been closed need to be reopened, closing them is unacceptable.

He added that another crossing at Kerem Shalom, between Gaza and Israel, is expected to reopen on Wednesday.

In a separate report, the Anadolu news agency said Israel had promised to reopen the Keram Shalom crossing and the Rafah crossing for fuel deliveries on Wednesday, according to the US. These two crossings are known to be important routes for sending humanitarian aid into the besieged Gaza Strip.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters that Israel had promised to reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing tomorrow (Wednesday). We are working to ensure that this actually happens, so that humanitarian aid can continue.

Noting that the Kerem Shalom crossing was closed due to the Hamas attack, Miller said the United States wanted to reopen it “as soon as possible.”

Miller also said that the United States wants the same thing for Rafa. They (Israel) said they would reopen the Rafah crossing for fuel supplies. This fuel is incredibly important for water purification, it’s also incredibly important for fueling humanitarian aid trucks inside Gaza, and it’s also incredibly important for running bakeries. We would like to see it fully relaunched.