Crisis in the Middle East Israel claims to have “tactical control” over the Egypt-bordering Gaza Corridor.

In a move that may further strain Israel’s already fragile relations with Cairo, the Israeli military declared on Wednesday night that it had gained “tactical control” over the Philadelphi Corridor, a crucial stretch of Gaza near the border with Egypt.

The Israeli military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, described the area as “Hamas’s oxygen tube” and claimed that the Palestinian armed group regularly smuggled weapons into Gazan territory through it. He claimed that, knowing that Israel would not dare launch an attack thus close to Egyptian land, Hamas had likewise dug tunnels close to the Egyptian border.

According to Israeli officials, capturing the slender, approximately nine-mile-long region is essential to stopping Hamas from repurchasing weapons through cross-border smuggling. When asked whether Israel still intended to seize the zone, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to reporters in December, saying, “It must be in our hands; it must be closed.”

Tzachi Hanegbi, Israel’s national security advisor, seemed to discount the possibility that the conflict would stop with the military campaign against Hamas in Rafah when he stated on Wednesday that he expected Israel’s military operations in Gaza to last at least until the end of the year.

In a radio interview with Kan, the Israeli public broadcaster, Mr. Hanegbi stated, “We expect another seven months of combat in order to shore up our achievement and realize what we define as the destruction of Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s military and governing capabilities.”

According to weapons experts and visual evidence examined by The New York Times, the explosives used in the Israeli strike that killed dozens of Palestinians in a camp for displaced people in Rafah on Sunday were manufactured in the United States.

The Times discovered that the bomb debris that was captured on camera at the attack site the following day was from a GBU-39, an American-designed and -manufactured bomb. U.S. authorities have been pressuring Israel to employ more of these bombs because they claim they can lower the number of civilian deaths.

Relief workers claim that the Israeli assault on Rafah has severely disrupted medical and humanitarian services, forcing several of them to relocate to other areas of the Gaza Strip and leaving only one hospital open.

The city’s health care situation has worsened due to ongoing conflicts and strikes that have claimed the lives of several citizens, forcing the closure of emergency clinics and other services.

Many UN Security Council diplomats are supporting a new resolution this week that calls for an immediate cease-fire and an end to Israel’s military operations in the city of Rafah, in an attempt to capitalize on the fury surrounding an Israeli strike on Sunday that destroyed an encampment and killed at least 45 displaced Palestinians, including children.

However, they will need to get over the United States’ objections, as it has indicated that it will not support the resolution in its current form and holds the power of veto in the Council.

“Israel, the occupying Power, shall immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in Rafah,” reads the one-page resolution that was written and distributed by Algeria, the only Arab country now represented on the Security Council. It demands “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, as well as an immediate cease-fire respected by all parties.”