The UN has been denied access by Israel to the Rafah crossing in the Gaza Strip, it said on Tuesday, stressing that aid could no longer enter the Palestinian territory, including fuel oil.

"We currently have no physical presence at the Rafah crossing point because Cogat (the Israeli agency responsible for coordinating Israeli policy in the occupied Palestinian territories), has refused our access to this area", which is the main crossing point for humanitarian aid, said Jens Laerke, during a regular press briefing in Geneva. "We have been told that there will be no passage of personnel or goods in either direction at the moment... For how long? I don't know about that. But this is the current situation", he added. "This has a considerable impact" on the population because no aid can enter either through the Kerem Shalom crossing, targeted by rocket fire, stressed the spokesman.

As for the Erez crossing, recently reopened by Israel, all aid that could pass there must be subject to the control of the Israeli authorities, said a spokesman for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), James Elder, during the press briefing.

Israel has launched a large-scale military operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, since the massive attack of the Islamic movement on Israeli territory on October 7. The Israeli army deployed tanks on Tuesday in Rafah and took control of the Palestinian part of the crossing point with Egypt, and claimed to be conducting a "counterterrorism" operation in "specific areas" of eastern Rafah.