Israeli strikes on Saturday, May 11, hit parts of Gaza including Rafah where Israel expanded an evacuation order. The UN says humanitarian relief is blocked since Israel entered eastern Rafah this week, effectively shutting a key aid crossing and suspending traffic through another.
Israeli troops on Tuesday seized and closed the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing – through which all fuel passes into Gaza – after ordering residents of eastern Rafah to evacuate. The new evacuation order for eastern Rafah, posted on social media platform X by military spokesman Avichay Adraee, said the designated areas had "witnessed Hamas terrorist activities in recent days and weeks."
Hamas in a statement said Israel's "continued control" and closure of the Rafah crossing exacerbate the "humanitarian catastrophe" in the besieged territory.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday that Gaza risked an "epic humanitarian disaster" if Israel launched a full-scale ground operation in Rafah.
A US State Department report on Friday said it was "reasonable to assess" that Israel violated norms on international law in its use of weapons from the United States but it did not find enough evidence to block shipments. The State Department submitted its report two days after President Joe Biden publicly threatened to withhold certain bombs and artillery shells if Israel goes ahead with an all-out assault on Rafah, where the United Nations said 1.4 million had been sheltering.
On Friday the White House said it did not yet see a "major ground operation" in Rafah but was watching the situation "with concern." Biden's administration had already paused delivery of 3,500 bombs as Israel appeared ready to attack Rafah. More than 100,000 people fled the city after the initial evacuation order, the United Nations said on Friday. Israel on Saturday gave a figure of 300,000, as more Rafah residents piled water tanks, mattresses and other belongings onto vehicles and prepared to flee again.
The evacuation order on Saturday told residents to go to the "humanitarian zone" of Al-Mawasi, on the coast northwest of Rafah. That area has "extremely limited access to clean drinking water, latrines" and other basic services, said Sylvain Groulx, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) emergency coordinator in Gaza.
In New York, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to grant the Palestinians additional rights in the global body and backed their drive for full membership, vetoed by Washington at the Security Council.