Israel-Gaza war live: IDF orders evacuation of central Rafah as it prepares to expand its offensive | Gaza

Jason Burke

the leaflets, accompanied by messages on social networkssaid:

We also call on some other neighborhoods in eastern Rafah where there have been terrorist activities by Hamas in recent days and weeks, along with other terrorist groups, in particular in the Rafah and Shabura camps and the neighborhoods of Al-Adari, Al-Jeneina, and Khirbet Al -Adas in blocks: 6-9, 17, 25-27, 31 – to target the expanded humanitarian zone in Al-Mawasi.

The messages also called for the evacuation of “all residents and displaced persons” from a strip to the north Gaza too.

You are in a dangerous combat zone. Hamas is trying to rebuild its capabilities in the region and therefore the IDF will work with great force against the terrorist organizations in the region you are in and therefore anyone who is in those areas is putting themselves and their families at risk.

The Israeli military orders the evacuation of downtown Rafah

Jason Burke

The Israeli army has told residents of neighborhoods in central Rafah to evacuate, signaling a major expansion of its military operations in the city and threatening to displace hundreds of thousands more.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) seized the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in what it said was a “precise, targeted operation” last week after ordering the evacuation of eastern neighborhoods. Over 150,000 people have already left the city. Many have fled to an “extended humanitarian zone” designated by the IDF on the coast and in the northwest, where conditions are “horrendous,” according to aid workers there.

The new instructions to residents suggest that an upcoming offensive will drive the IDF into the center of Rafah, threatening to destroy and displace many more and possibly advance across the city.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, rejected US pressure to halt the attack on Rafah, saying that Hamas has based most of its top leaders and other forces there.

Welcome to our ongoing live broadcast of the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis. Here’s an overview of the latest news.

The United Arab Emirates has attacked Benjamin Netanyahu after the Israeli prime minister said the Gulf state could be involved in helping a future government in Gaza after the war.

The UAE’s foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, rebuked Netanyahu in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday morning, saying Abu Dhabi condemned the Israeli leader’s comments.

“The UAE emphasizes that the Israeli Prime Minister has no legal standing to take this step and the UAE refuses to be drawn into any plan to provide cover for the Israeli presence in Gaza Strip,” he said in a post in Arabic.

Sheikh Abdullah said the UAE – one of the few Arab states with formal diplomatic ties to Israel – would be ready to support a Palestinian government that meets the aspirations of the Palestinian people, which he says include independence.

Netanyahu said in an interview broadcast this week that the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other countries could possibly help a civilian government with Gazans in the territory after the war.

Meanwhile, Hamas said efforts to reach a cease-fire agreement in Gaza were back at a stalemate after Israel effectively rejected a plan by international mediators in Cairo, Reuters reports. The White House said it was trying to keep the parties engaged “albeit virtually.”

In other key developments:

• The Biden administration said Israel was using US-supplied weapons may be “incompatible” with international humanitarian law during his military operation in Gaza, in his strongest criticism yet of Israel. But the State Department also said in a report to Congress that there was not enough concrete evidence to link specific US-supplied weapons to violations or to justify cutting off arms supplies.

• The UN General Assembly by a large majority adopted a resolution the UN Security Council to review and support Palestine’s full UN membership. A total of 143 countries supported it, nine voted against – including the US – and 25 abstained. The resolution also gives Palestine a range of rights and privileges in addition to what it is allowed in its current observer status.

• Gilad Erdan, Israel’s UN delegate, accused the organization of trying to admit a “terrorist state” into its membership led by the “Hitlers of our time” during the debate on the resolution. Erdan also tore up a copy of the UN charter, accusing members of doing so while debating the resolution.

• Riyad Mansour, the Permanent Observer of Palestine, told the UN: “I stand before you as lives continue to crumble in the Gaza Strip… as more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed, 80,000 maimed, 2 million displaced and everything destroyed.” He added: “No words can to capture what such loss and trauma means to Palestinians.”

• Residents described near-constant explosions and gunfire east and northeast of Rafah in southern Gaza on Friday, with intense fighting between Israeli forces and militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Hamas said it had ambushed Israeli tanks near a mosque in the eastern part of the city, a sign that Israeli forces had penetrated several kilometers to the east to the outskirts of the built-up area. Israel has ordered civilians to leave eastern Rafah, forcing tens of thousands of people to seek shelter outside the city, which was previously the last refuge of more than a million driven from other parts of the territory during the war.

• Dwindling food and fuel supplies could force relief operations to halt for several days Gaza as vital junctions remain closed, forcing hospitals to close and leading to more malnutrition, UN humanitarian agencies warned on Friday. Aid workers sounded the alarm over the closure of the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings to aid and people as part of Israel’s military operation in Rafah, where a UN official said around 110,000 people had fled.

• The UN Security Council has called for an immediate and independent investigation mass graves which is said to contain hundreds of bodies near hospitals in Gaza. In a statement, council members expressed their “deep concern over reports of the discovery of mass graves in and around the Nasser and Al-Shifa medical facilities in Gaza, where several hundred bodies, including women, children and the elderly, were buried.”

• Three Israeli whistleblowers working in the Sde Teiman desert camp, a detention site for Palestinians detained during the Israeli invasion of Gaza, claim to have witnessed a series of abuses by the militaryincluding holding prisoners, blindfolding and forcing them to wear diapers, CNN reports. Israeli informants said of the prisoners: “We were told that they were not allowed to move. They should sit upright. They are not allowed to speak. They are not allowed to peek under their blindfolds. According to the sources, the guards were instructed to enforce silence by shouting “scotch” (Arabic for “shut up”) and to identify and punish problematic individuals.