ISRAELI tanks seized control of Gaza’s vital Rafah border crossing with Egypt today as Israel brushed off urgent warnings from close allies and moved into the southern city even as ceasefire negotiations with Hamas continued.

The Israeli attack came hours after Hamas said on Monday that it would accept an Egyptian-Qatari-mediated ceasefire proposal.

Israel insisted the deal did not meet its core demands, despite unnamed Egyptian and Western diplomat sources saying that the draft deal Hamas accepted had only minor changes in wording from a version the United States had earlier pushed for — with Israeli approval.