CAIRO, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday called on influential international parties to intervene and press for defusing the tension in the Gaza Strip city of Rafah.
In a statement, the ministry condemned the Israeli military operation in the city that resulted in Israeli control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
Egypt considers the move a serious escalation threatening more than 1 million Palestinians who mainly depend on the crossing, which enables the delivery of humanitarian and relief aid into the enclave, the statement said.
It urged the Israeli side to practice the utmost self-restraint and to avoid policies that threaten the efforts to reach a sustainable truce in Gaza, calling on the international community to intervene.
Israel's military said on Tuesday that it had started an operation in Rafah city. At least 20 people have been killed in Israel's continuous attacks on Rafah since Tuesday morning, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. ■
