Summary

  • People in the southern Gaza city of Rafah say Israeli shelling continues, with tanks massed near built-up areas

  • The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says 80,000 people have left the area since Monday, when Israel warned people to evacuate

  • On Wednesday night, President Joe Biden said the US would not supply weapons to Israel for a major offensive in Rafah

  • Biden says if Israeli troops enter the densely-packed city "we're not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells"

  • On Thursday evening, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu says "if we have to stand alone, we will stand alone"

  • "I have already said that if necessary, we will fight with our nails," he says in a video message

Live Reporting

Edited by Nathan Williams

  1. In pictures: Palestinians inspect damage in Rafah

    We're now bringing you some of the latest pictures from Rafah, showing Palestinians inspecting debris and continuing to leave the southern city following an evacuation order.

    A child with crutches sits on debris at the site of a strike on a house in Rafah.Reuters

    A child sits on debris at the site of a strike on a house in Rafah.

    Several Palestinians gather amid debris at the site of a strike on a house in Rafah.Reuters

    Palestinians gather at the site of a strike on a house in Rafah.

    Children sit near belongings in Rafah as people flee the southern city.Reuters

    Children sit next to belongings as people flee Rafah after an evacuation order.

    Several Israeli soldiers gather near the border fence with the Gaza Strip, with military vehicles in the background.Shutterstock

    Israeli soldiers gather at an undisclosed position near the border fence with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel.

  2. Residents in Rafah report constant shelling

    Yolande Knell
    Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

    Reports from Rafah say that Israeli tanks are massed close to built-up areas.

    Residents have told us there is the constant sound of shelling.

    Palestinian armed groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad say they’re targeting Israeli forces on the eastern outskirts of the city, firing mortars and anti-tank missiles.

    While a Hamas delegation is said to have left talks in Cairo to consult the group’s leaders in Doha, the CIA director, William Burns, is reportedly back there after meetings with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem.

    The US has continued to indicate that a deal on a ceasefire and hostage release can still be reached. However, Israeli media reports say that Israeli officials are not optimistic.

    Some claim that the US president’s comments to CNN will undermine the chances of a deal, because they reduce Israeli leverage in the negotiations.

  3. 'Displacement causes great suffering for me'

    A man stands in a field hospital and speaks to the BBC about his experience fleeing Rafah

    A man who was recently forced to flee Rafah and seek shelter at the European Hospital, in the southern city of Khan Younis, tells BBC Arabic's Gaza Today programme that his displacement is a severe hardship:

    I suffer from diabetes, high blood pressure, and osteoarthritis, a matter which means the displacement causes a great deal of suffering for me.

    Life is very difficult for us. We hope to return to our land in Gaza and that everyone will set up a tent in the place of his home and settle back there."

  4. The experiences of Palestinians fleeing Rafah - in their own words

    People in Rafah have begun to flee to the European Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip to take shelter.

    But the hospital has since told some of them they had to go to al-Mawasi - a coastal area designated a "humanitarian zone" by Israel - where a field hospital would be set up in an attempt to accommodate a huge number of wounded and sick people.

    Our colleagues over at BBC Arabic's Gaza Today programme have been speaking to people there. We’ll be sharing their stories here, so stay with us.

  5. Hamas delegation leaves Cairo for consultations, BBC understands

    We are hearing from our correspondent Rushdi Abualouf that the Hamas delegation has left Cairo for consultations.

    Ceasefire talks have been continuing in the Egyptian capital, with delegations from Israel, Hamas and the US meeting alongside Egyptian and Qatari mediators, even as fighting continues.

    Read more about the talks here

  6. How important are US arms supplies for Israel?

    The US is the biggest supplier of arms to Israel, helping it build one of the most technologically sophisticated armies in the world.

    The US accounted for 69% of Israel's imports of major conventional arms between 2019 and 2023, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

    Israel also receives $3.8bn (£3bn) in annual military aid from the US under a 10-year agreement that is intended to allow its ally to maintain what it calls a "qualitative military edge" over neighbouring countries.

    Biden has also said the US would continue to give Israel weapons needed to defend itself including interceptors for its ‘Iron Dome’ air defence system.

    Read more about where Israel gets its weapons here.

    Graph shows which countries sell the most arms to Israel in percentages (Germany 29.7%, US 65.6% and Italy (4.7%)

  7. Cameron: UK won't support major Israeli operation in Rafah

    British Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron delivers a speech at the National Cyber Security Centre in London, Britain.Reuters

    UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has reiterated the UK position that it will not support a major Israeli operation in Rafah "unless there was a very clear plan for how to protect people and save lives".

    "We have not seen that plan, so in the circumstances we will not support a major operation in Rafah," Cameron says.

    He stresses a "fundamental difference" between the UK and US approach, where President Joe Biden has warned he will stop supplying some weapons to Israel if there is a Rafah offensive.

    The US is a massive state supplier of weapons to Israel. We do not have a UK Government supply of weapons to Israel, we have a number of licences, and I think our defence exports to Israel are responsible for significantly less than 1% of their total."

  8. Analysis

    US steps up pressure on Israel

    James Landale
    Diplomatic correspondent

    The United States is the one country that has real leverage over Israel. And yet, throughout the war in Gaza, Israel has chosen to ignore much of the advice of its closest ally.

    For seven long months, the US has gradually stepped up pressure on Israel. And yet, much of this counsel and cajoling has fallen on deaf ears. So now the US is beginning to wield its biggest stick.

    The US is by far Israel's biggest source of weapons and ammunition. By law, it provides Israel with $3.8bn (£3bn) of military aid each year. Now the Biden administration has for the first time delayed a shipment of munitions to Israel.

    So why is the US finally reaching for perhaps its biggest lever of influence over Israel?

    A first answer is the proposed military operation against Hamas in Rafah. The US and many Western countries fear this would lead to mass civilian casualties and a humanitarian catastrophe.

    • Read the full article here

  9. What's been happening?

    Heavy shelling has been reported in Rafah, with witnesses describing "non-stop" strikes overnight. Here's a look at some of the latest developments:

    • US President Joe Biden warned Israel against an offensive in Rafah, saying he was prepared to cut off weapons supplies if Israeli troops enter the city
    • Gilad Erdan, Israel's ambassador to the UN, described Biden's warning as "very disappointing"
    • Scott Anderson, from UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, tells the BBC fighting is moving towards the centre of the city
    • Around 80,000 people have fled the city since Monday, UNRWA says
    • Ceasefire talks are resuming in Cairo, with delegations from Israel, Hamas and the US meeting with Egyptian and Qatari mediators

    Stay with us for more.

  10. Israeli strike kills four Hezbollah members in Lebanon - security source

    Lebanon's civil defence says four people were killed in an Israeli strike on a vehicle in southern Lebanon, with a security source telling AFP they were members of Hezbollah - the Iran-backed Shia group.

    Israel has been carrying out strikes on southern Lebanon almost daily since Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on 8 October in support of Hamas in Gaza, triggering an escalating series of attacks and counter-attacks.

    The Israeli army told AFP news agency that it does not comment on reports in the foreign media.

    The Israeli army says it targets Hezbollah members and infrastructure, and retaliates to attacks on Israeli army bases in northern Israel.

  11. Katz: Israel will 'continue to fight Hamas until its destruction'

    Israel's foreign minister says the country will keep fighting Hamas.

    In a post on X, Israel Katz writes: "Israel will continue to fight Hamas until its destruction. There is no war more just than this."

  12. 'People in Rafah petrified', says doctor

    Palestinians travel in an animal-drawn cart as they flee Rafah after Israeli forces launched a ground and air operation in the eastern part of the southern Gaza city on ThursdayReuters

    We brought you some lines earlier from a British physician working in Rafah, who described shelling in the southern Gaza city as being "non-stop" overnight.

    Dr James Smith tells the BBC that some hospitals in Rafah have begun "pre-emptive evacuations", which he says "signifies how petrified people are of what the Israelis have the capacity to do, including to patients and healthcare workers".

    Smith says Gaza's main roads on Wednesday were "incredibly crowded" with people moving their belongings, including cooking pots and mattresses strapped to the roof.

    Fighting is continuing in the city, as the Israeli military says it's conducting a "precise" counterterrorism operation.

  13. In pictures: Palestinians flee after Israel shells Rafah

    We can now bring you some of the latest images from Gaza's southern city of Rafah, where Palestinians have begun to flee after reports of heavy shelling in the area.

    Palestinians travel in a donkey-drawn cart as they flee RafahReuters

    A UN agency says 80,000 have fled the city this week as fighting continued on the outskirts of the city

    Israeli soldiers with military vehicles gather at an undisclosed position near the border fence with the Gaza Strip with Israeli flags positioned on top of some tanks.ABIR SULTAN/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

    Israeli soldiers with military vehicles are pictured gathering at an undisclosed position near the border fence with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel

    A Palestinian woman walks down the stairs of a house hit in an Israeli strike carrying bags of belongings.Reuters

    A Palestinian woman seen walking down a staircase of a crumbling house destroyed after a strike

  14. Israeli president criticises minister's 'Hamas loves Biden' comment

    Description Israel’s President Isaac Herzog speaks during his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024Reuters

    Israeli President Isaac Herzog has criticised Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for saying "Hamas [loves] Biden", describing his comment as "irresponsible".

    Ben-Gvir posted the remark on X, formerly known as Twitter, after the US president warned he would cut off weapons supplies to Israel if its troops enter the southern Gazan city of Rafah.

    Herzog says the comment could "damage Israel's national security interests", adding that "baseless, irresponsible, insulting statements" should be avoided.

    "Even when there are arguments and disappointing moments among friends and allies, there a way to sort out the differences," Herzog says.

    Herzog went on to thank Biden for being "a great friend of the state of Israel, and who has proved as much from the first day of the war".

  15. Analysis

    Has Biden undermined Israel's negotiating position?

    Paul Adams
    Diplomatic correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem

    "Hamas has to believe that Israel is going to attack Rafah." Those were the words of a Western diplomat, speaking to me anonymously more than two months ago.

    The point he was making was: unless Hamas believes that the full weight of the Israeli military will eventually be brought to bear on Rafah, it will have no real incentive to strike a deal. Only the prospect of complete annihilation would force Hamas to sue for peace.

    Has Joe Biden now taken the prospect of a full-scale Rafah operation off the table?

    This morning, some Israeli commentators are coming to that conclusion.

    Writing in Yedioth Ahronoth, Avi Issacharoff says that public pressure on Israel has prompted Hamas “not to give up on any of its excessive demands”.

    "Rafah," he writes, "remains the last bullet in Israel’s magazine in the negotiations".

    "The problem is that as long as the Americans refuse to support an operation there, it is clear to all the sides that this bullet is a blank."

  16. BBC Verify

    Half of Gaza water sites damaged or destroyed, BBC satellite data reveals

    Hundreds of Gaza's water and sanitation facilities have been damaged or destroyed since Israel began military action against Hamas, satellite analysis by BBC Verify has found.

    Clean water has always been a limited resource in Gaza and the territory has largely relied on a system of boreholes and desalination plants for its supply.

    Our analysis found that more than half of these vital facilities have been damaged or destroyed since 7 October.

    We also found that four of the six wastewater treatment plants - crucial to preventing the build-up of sewage and the spread of disease - have been damaged or destroyed. The two others have shut down because lack of fuel or other supplies, according to one aid agency.

    The plants were among more than 600 water and sanitation facilities that we analysed, using a list of locations provided by Gaza's Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU).

    Click here to read BBC Verify's analysis in full.

    A map showing BBC Verify of Planet Labs satellite imagery.

  17. WHO director-general says Rafah hospitals will run out of fuel in three days

    Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organisation, in December 2023PA Media

    Rafah's hospitals can run for just three more days due to dwindling fuel supplies, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) warns.

    Posting a video statement on X, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says this is because fuel the organisation had expected to arrive into Gaza via the Rafah crossing on Wednesday was not allowed in.

    "Already, one of Rafah's three hospitals - the Al-Najjar hospital - has had to shut down. Its patients have been moved elsewhere and hospital staff are removing supplies and some equipment to safeguard them," he says.

    Ghebreyesus says the WHO has pre-positioned some supplies in warehouses and hospitals, but without more aid going into Gaza "we cannot sustain our lifesaving support to hospitals".

    He calls for the removal of all obstacles to the delivery of aid, adding that "a ceasefire is needed urgently for the sake of humanity".

  18. More bombardments in last 24 hours than two weeks combined, says Rafah aid worker

    Sophie Abdulla
    BBC News

    Displaced families continue to flee Rafah

    Rafah has experienced more intense bombardments over the past 24 hours than the last two weeks combined, an aid worker in the region has told the BBC.

    Louise Wateridge, a communications officer at the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, says this has continued with "frequency this morning a couple of miles away in the east of Rafah”.

    Wateridge says the building she is in, in western Rafah, is “shaking intermittently from the nearby bombardments” and that she can see vehicles leaving the area from the window, carrying displaced families.

    There are people in Rafah who are “unable to move very far because of elderly parents or young children”, she says.

    “Space available elsewhere is very minimal, has little infrastructure and as everywhere in the Gaza Strip carries no certainty of any safety”, Wateridge adds.

    Wateridge says she filmed the above video while driving through western Rafah at around 07:00 this morning.

  19. Where do ceasefire talks stand?

    Truce talks are resuming in Cairo, with delegations from Israel, Hamas and the US meeting with mediators to broker a ceasefire. Let's take a look at where those negotiations stand:

    Hamas said on Monday that it had accepted a ceasefire proposal from Egypt and Qatar, the basis of which is a weeks-long pause in the fighting and the release of several dozen hostages still held in Gaza.

    But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the proposal approved by Hamas was unacceptable because it was "very far from Israel's necessary requirements".

    He said he had instructed the mid-level Israeli delegation sent to Cairo to "stand firm" on the conditions required for the return of the hostages and on "vital requirements for ensuring Israel's security".

    On Wednesday, Hamas said it would not make more concessions to Israel in the ceasefire talks.

    In a statement, Izzat El-Reshiq, a member of Hamas' political office in Qatar, said the group would not go beyond a ceasefire proposal it accepted on Monday.

    Israel did not respond immediately to the statement.

    Read more: Israel takes Rafah crossing as truce talks continue

  20. Witnesses report 'non-stop' overnight strikes in Rafah

    Yolande Knell
    Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

    We’ve been hearing from witnesses about the intense Israeli shelling in Rafah.

    Footage from last night at the Kuwaiti Hospital showed a series of children, including a baby, with bloody wounds being rushed inside.

    Some men were carried in on stretchers wincing in pain. Medics say they treated 25 casualties who came from a nearby neighbourhood.

    “They started shelling us: children, women and older people,” a witness Khaled Taweel told the BBC.

    “They said “a limited incursion” but we saw that last night they entered right by the Yousef al-Najjar Hospital [in eastern Rafah].”

    A British physician, Dr James Smith, said in a voice message: “The strikes in Rafah have been non-stop all night.”

    With blasts audible in the background, he said: “I’m hearing one every ten seconds.”

    Crowds of Palestinians are said to have been fleeing along the coastal road.