CAIRO, May 7. /TASS/. The Israeli forces’ seizure of Gaza’s Rafah border crossing is an attempt to derail efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement and exchange hostages for Palestinian prisoners, the Hamas movement said.

The seizure of the Rafah crossing "came after the movement announced its agreement to the mediators’ proposal for negotiations, which confirms the Israeli authorities’ intention to disrupt efforts to achieve a ceasefire and the release of those held in Gaza in the personal interests of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his extremist government," Hamas said in a statement on its Telegram channel.

The movement said that such Israeli actions "represent a dangerous escalation against the civilian population of the enclave, which is protected by international law, in order to make the humanitarian situation in Gaza extremely difficult by stopping aid deliveries through the Rafah crossing." Hamas called on the international community to pressure Israel "to prevent endangering the lives of hundreds of thousands of displaced people in Rafah and throughout the Palestinian enclave."

Some time ago, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) press office reported that the Israeli military had taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing on the enclave’s border with Egypt. Currently, "IDF ground troops are continuing to operate against Hamas terrorist operatives and infrastructure in the area of the Rafah crossing in eastern Rafah," the military added.