May 07, Kathmandu- The Israeli army has announced that it has taken control of the East Rafah region of Palestine. Suspecting the presence of Hamas rebels in Rafah, the Israeli army evacuated 100,000 refugees overnight and launched an offensive.

Israel said 20 Hamas fighters were killed and three tunnels were destroyed in the overnight attack. Eyewitnesses said that Israeli forces fired missiles and bombs indiscriminately throughout the night. Many civilians who could not escape yesterday are also suspected to have been killed. Most of the houses in East Rafah have been destroyed. Military tanks flying the Israeli flag are now rolling around Rafah.

With the Rafah crossing near the Egyptian border now under Israeli control, the supply of humanitarian aid materials has stopped. The Rafah crossing was the only route for aid supplies until now. As nearly 1.5 million refugees who were displaced from Gaza are in Rafah, although there is global pressure not to attack there, Israel has launched an attack from East Rafah.

Israel has been widely criticized for carrying out attacks even after Hamas said yesterday that it had agreed to abide by the conditions for a ceasefire.

Meanwhile, UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, has warned that there will be an extreme shortage of aid materials after the Israeli army captured the Rafah crossing.

UNRWA has warned that vehicles carrying aid materials have not been able to enter Rafah for the past 48 hours. The spokesperson of the agency, Louis Wattridge, said that there is a threat to the health of the citizens of Gaza and said that Israel should take care of the minimum humanity.