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 media, said:

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

The messages also called for the evacuation of “all residents and displaced people” from a swath of northern 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 organisations in the region in which you are located, and therefore everyone who is in those areas exposes themselves and their families to danger.

Israeli military orders evacuation of central Rafah

Jason Burke

The Israeli military has told residents of neighbourhoods in central Rafah to evacuate, signalling a major expansion of its military operations in the city and threatening the displacement of hundreds of thousands more people.

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) seized the Rafah border crossing with Egypt what it said was a “precise, targeted operation” last week after ordering the evacuation of eastern neighbourhoods. More than 150,000 people have already fled the city. Many have fled to an “expanded humanitarian zone”, designated by the IDF on the coast and to the northwest where conditions are “horrific”, according to aid workers there.

The new instructions to residents suggest a coming offensive will take the IDF into the centre of Rafah, threatening destruction and displacement of many more, and a likely advance through the entire city.

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

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

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

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

“The UAE stresses that the Israeli prime minister does not have any legal capacity to take this step, and the UAE refuses to be drawn into any plan aimed at providing cover for the Israeli presence in the Gaza Strip,” he said in an Arabic post.

Sheikh Abdullah said the UAE – one of few Arab states with official diplomatic ties to Israel – would be prepared to support a Palestinian government that met the aspirations of the Palestinian people, which he said included independence.

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

Meanwhile, Hamas said efforts to find a Gaza ceasefire deal were back at square one after Israel effectively spurned a plan from international mediators in Cairo, Reuters reports. The White House said it was trying to keep the sides engaged “if only virtually”.

In other key developments:

• The Biden administration said Israel’s use of US-supplied weapons may be “inconsistent” with international humanitarian law during its military operation in Gaza, in its strongest criticism to date 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 warrant cutting the supply of arms.

• The United Nations general assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution for the UN security council to reconsider and support the full membership of Palestine into the UN. 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 body of attempting to allow a “terror state” into its membership led by the “Hitlers of our time” during debate on the resolution. Erdan also shredded 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 falling apart in the Gaza Strip … as more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed, 80,000 have been maimed, 2 million have been displaced and everything has been destroyed.” He added: “No words can capture what such loss and trauma signifies for Palestinians.”

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

• Dwindling food and fuel stocks could force aid operations to grind to a halt within days in Gaza as vital crossings remain shut, forcing hospitals to close down and leading to more malnutrition, UN aid agencies warned on Friday. Humanitarian workers have sounded the alarm over the closure of the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings for aid and people as part of Israel’s military operation in Rafah, where a UN official said about 110,000 people have fled.

• The UN security council called for an immediate and independent investigation into mass graves allegedly containing hundreds of bodies near hospitals in Gaza. In a statement, members of the council 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 older persons, were buried”.

• Three Israeli whistleblowers working at the Sde Teiman desert camp, a holding site for Palestinians detained during Israel’s invasion of Gaza, have claimed to have witnessed a series of abuses by the military, including prisoners being restrained, blindfolded and forced to wear diapers, reports CNN. The Israeli whistleblowers said of the prisoners: “We were told they were not allowed to move. They should sit upright. They’re not allowed to talk. Not allowed to peek under their blindfold.” According to the sources, guards were instructed to enforce silence by shouting “uskot” (Arabic for “shut up”) and to identify and punish problematic individuals.