Israel Gaza live updates: IDF ‘take control of Rafah crossing’ amid uncertainty over ceasefire deal

Israel has defied international concern and ordered the partial evacuation of Rafah – the last refuge in Gaza, where 1.4 million desperate civilians are braced for an impending ground assault the United Nations warned could lead to “bloodbath”.

Western leaders expressed dismay that Israel might press ahead with an invasion of the tiny area despite a last-ditch bid by Hamas to secure a temporary ceasefire.

Rishi Sunak said he was “deeply concerned… given the number of civilians that are sheltering there,” while Sir Keir Starmer said the Israeli offensive “must not go ahead.”

Israel says Rafah is the last significant Hamas stronghold, but aid groups said leaflets and text messages ordering tens of thousands of civilians to leave the eastern areas were “unlawful and alarming”.

US president Joe Biden urgently warned Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu against launching an offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah as the divide between the two leaders continues to grow along with the mounting Palestinian death toll.

The call between Mr Biden and Mr Netanyahu came as Israel appeared to be moving closer to a major military operation to root out Hamas militants in Rafah — something that Biden and his top aides have repeatedly told Israeli officials will only lead to more death and worsen the despair in the war-ravaged territory.

Both leaders are facing growing public pressure — Mr Biden from protests on college campuses and Mr Netanyahu from the families of some Israeli hostages — for a ceasefire deal.

“The president doesn’t want to see operations in Rafah that put at greater risk the more than a million people that are seeking refuge there,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said.

The White House described the leaders’ 30-minute conversation as “constructive”. Privately, however, administration officials’ concern was mounting as Israel yesterday ordered about 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate from Rafah and began carrying out “targeted” strikes in the eastern part of the city.

White House officials were carefully watching the unfolding, intensified Israeli action in Rafah with deep worry, but did not believe it amounted to the widescale attack Mr Netanyahu has been threatening, according to a person familiar with administration thinking who was not authorized to comment publicly.

The humanitarian situation is rapidly deteriorating across Gaza. The head of the United Nations World Food Program, Cindy McCain, said on Sunday that northern Gaza has entered “full-blown famine” after nearly seven months of war.

Israel earlier announced it had Palestinians to evacuate from Rafah. Soon after the order, Hamas said it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari proposal for a ceasefire.

Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israel would continue its operations in Gaza as officials deliberate the ceasefire proposal approved by Hamas.

And the Israeli War Cabinet voted unanimously to approve a Rafah military operation but said it would continue ceasefire efforts.

The new targeted strikes in eastern Rafah appeared aimed at keeping the pressure on Hamas as talks continue.

There are around 450,000 displaced Palestinians sheltering in Muwasi. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said it has been giving them aid but conditions are squalid, with few sanitation facilities in the largely rural area, forcing families to dig private latrines.

The Israeli evacuation order left Palestinians in Rafah wrestling with having to uproot their families once again for an unknown fate, exhausted after months living in sprawling tent camps or crammed into schools or other shelters in and around the city. Israeli airstrikes on Rafah early yesterday killed 22 people, including children and two infants.

Mohammed Jindiyah said that at the beginning of the war, he tried to hold out in his home in northern Gaza under heavy bombardment before fleeing to Rafah.

He is complying with Israel’s evacuation order this time but is unsure whether to move to Muwasi or elsewhere.

“We are 12 families, and we don’t know where to go. There is no safe area in Gaza,” he said. Sahar Abu Nahel, who fled to Rafah with 20 family members, including her children and grandchildren, wiped tears from her cheeks, despairing at a new move.

“I have no money or anything. I am seriously tired, as are the children,” she said. “Maybe it’s more honorable for us to die. We are being humiliated.”

Thousands of Israelis rallied around the country yesterday night calling for an immediate deal to release the hostages still held in the Gaza Strip.

The protests came as Israel’s war cabinet voted to begin an operation in the city of Rafah, saying that a ceasefire proposal Hamas accepted earlier in the night was not in line with Israeli demands.

In Tel Aviv, about 1,000 protesters swelled near Israel’s military headquarters, some blocking the city’s main highway until late into the night. Police tried to clear the road, lifting some protesters off the street and extinguishing fires lit during the demonstration. Other officers on horseback surrounded crowds who chanted “deal now!”

In Jerusalem, hundreds of protesters called for a hostage deal. They marched toward the home of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, holding a banner reading “the blood is on your hands”.

There were also smaller protests in the cities of Haifa, Beersheba and Raanana.

Israeli police did not immediately respond to a request about the number of people arrested.

In front of Netanyahu’s house stood Mai Albini Peri, the grandson of Haim Peri, a hostage in Gaza. He held a sign that read, “Rafah, not at the expense of my grandfather.”

Hamas has published a copy of the cease-fire and hostage release proposal that the militant group said it had agreed to yesterday.

The framework brought forward by Qatar and Egypt aims to bring a halt to seven months of war in Gaza. However, it’s unclear if Israel will agree to the terms.

The proposal outlines a phased release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza alongside the gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from the entire enclave and ending with a “sustainable calm” or “permanent cessation of military and hostile operations.”

Israel has previously said it would not agree to either a full withdrawal of its forces or a permanent cease-fire as part of a hostage release deal.

The first stage would last 42 days and would involve a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the release of about 33 hostages held in the territory, including the remaining Israeli women — both civilians and soldiers — as well as children, older adults and people who are ill.

Thirty Palestinian prisoners held in Israel would be released in exchange for each Israeli civilian hostage and 50 in exchange for each female soldier.

Palestinians displaced in Gaza would be allowed to return to their home neighborhoods during that time.

Biden administration officials yesterday continued to express concerns to the Israelis that a major military operation in Rafah’s densely populated areas could be catastrophic.

White House officials were also privately concerned about the latest strikes on Rafah — although the strikes did not appear to be the widescale attack Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been threatening, according to a person familiar with Biden administration thinking who was not authorised to comment publicly.

A Palestinian security official and an Egyptian official say Israeli tanks entered the southern Gaza town of Rafah, reaching as close as 200m from the crossing with neighboring Egypt.

The Egyptian official said the operation appeared to be limited in scope. He and Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV said Israeli officials informed the Egyptians that the troops would withdraw after completing the operation.

The Israeli military declined to comment.

Earlier yesterday, Israel’s War Cabinet decided to push ahead with a military operation in Rafah, after Hamas announced its acceptance of an Egyptian-Qatari proposal for a cease-fire deal. The Israeli military said it was conducting “targeted strikes” against Hamas in Rafah without providing details.

The Stormont Assembly in Northern Ireland is set to hear a call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and southern Israel.

The debate, listed for today, will be led by the Opposition SDLP.

It has been described as the first opportunity for the Assembly to make a united call for peace since the outbreak of the latest conflict in the region in October 2023.

The motion proposed by the official Opposition leader, Matthew O’Toole, condemns violence by Israel and Hamas.

It also calls for an immediate ceasefire and the release of hostages, rejects any ground assault on Rafah, affirms support for a two-state solution and the recognition of Palestine as a state, and calls for an end to the sale or transfer of weapons to Israel “while the genocide continues”.