"Last night, IDF (army) troops managed to establish operational control of the Gazan side of (Rafah) crossing," the military said.

"Right now, at the moment what's happening, we have operational control over the Gazan side of Rafah crossing, and we have special forces scanning the area to find additional terror infrastructure or terrorists," the military said.

"We are only talking about the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing."

The military said it was currently engaged in a "very targeted operation and a very limited scope against very specific targets" in eastern Rafah.

"A vast amount of the organisation and the people in the area within (which) we gave the evacuation notice yesterday (Monday) moved to a safer zone."

Since the start of its operation in eastern Rafah the military has killed 20 militants, it said.