Jacqueline Howard
Live reporter

Image source, Professor Nick Maynard

A short while ago, I was in contact with Professor Nick Maynard, a British surgeon volunteering in Gaza.

As we spoke, bombs began to fall and gunfights kicked off as he approached the Rafah crossing to return to the UK.

It began with two strikes, which shot plumes of smoke into the air, before descending into “non-stop bombing surrounding the crossing”, Maynard told me.

There was a lot of uncertainly as to whether he would be able to cross the border at all – at one point, it was thought they would have to turn back.

He told me the Palestinian officials stationed at the crossing were junior and were “as much in the dark as we were” about the bombs falling overhead.

The permission to cross into Egypt came suddenly, he said, and once he was safely across on the Egyptian side, we spoke again.

"I can still hear the bombs, and the bombs are so close that the buildings here are shaking,” he said.

US President Joe Biden will speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today, according to a National Security Council spokesperson.

They say that the White House cannot speak on behalf of the Israeli military, but "we have made our views clear on a major ground invasion of Rafah to the Israeli government, and the president will speak with the prime minister today".

Washington has repeatedly said it does not support an invasion of Rafah without a plan to help civilians sheltering there.

The safety of hundreds of thousands of children in Rafah will be compromised if Israel goes ahead with a planned offensive in the area, according to a UK charity.

In a statement describing grave concerns for the young in Rafah, Gemma Sherrington, Interim CEO at Save the Children UK, said there was "nowhere safe to go".

"These aren't just our words, but those of the foreign secretary, who has repeatedly said how concerned he is about an incursion into Rafah. This is where we find out if that concern adds up to anything at all."

In February, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Israel should "stop and think seriously" before taking further action in Rafah.

Sherrington called on the UK to do all that it could to stop the planned incursion, including suspending arms sales to Israel and demanding an immediate ceasefire.

“For children in Gaza, this offensive could be the deadliest and most destructive chapter of the conflict yet. They need actions, not words."

Image source, Getty Images

We've heard from Ehud Olmert, a former prime minister of Israel, who warns against an offensive in Rafah and says "we have to stop the fighting now".

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's World at One programme about the prospect of such an attack, he says: "The likelihood of an additional military victory of great consequence is very small."

Olmert has been a vocal critic of current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has for months been calling for the war to be brought to an end and to avoid an offensive into Rafah.

He says the argument that an offensive into the southern Gazan city is needed to go after individuals that Israel holds responsible for the 7 October attack, including the leader of Hamas's political wing in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, could keep the war going "forever" and at the "expense of losing the lives of the hostages".

Challenged over whether the killing of four Israeli soldiers overnight shows Hamas is still a danger, Olmert says there can be no "absolute victory" and Hamas fighters will remain - warning that continuing the fighting will also lead to causalities.

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell has criticised Israel's evacuation order in eastern Rafah, ahead of an expected ground offensive in the southern Gazan city.

"Israel's evacuation orders to civilians in Rafah portend the worst: more war and famine. It is unacceptable. Israel must renounce to a ground offensive," he said.

"The EU, with the International Community, can and must act to prevent such scenario."

Earlier, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen repeated her call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and urged the release of hostages held by Hamas.

At least 34,735 people have died and 78,108 have been injured in the Gaza Strip since 7 October, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says.

Fifty-two people have died and 90 have been injured in the last 24 hours, it adds, but notes that many people are trapped under rubble where ambulances cannot reach them.

Hamas fighters stormed into southern Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages, some of whom are still being held in Gaza.

Image source, Getty Images

• The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) says it is "encouraging" people to leave parts of the southern Gaza city of Rafah - where more than 1.4 million people are currently sheltering - as it warns of an upcoming military operation in the area
• It has dropped flyers over the eastern part of the city, and phoned and texted citizens advising them to move towards an expanded "humanitarian area"
• The IDF says the operation will be carried out with a "limited scope" and is "not a wide-scale evacuation"
• A senior Hamas official has told the Reuters news agency that this is a "dangerous escalation that will have consequences"
• The evacuation order comes as talks aimed at securing a ceasefire deal in Gaza, and the release of Israeli hostages, have stalled
• Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told his US counterpart yesterday that "military action is required" in Rafah after a lack of progress in these talks, according to his office
• Overnight, Israeli strikes in Rafah reportedly killed at least 19 people, while four Israeli soldiers were killed in a Hamas rocket attack near the Kerem Shalom crossing - near one of the main crossings used to deliver aid into Gaza

Image source, Getty Images

Aid workers in Gaza are warning that plans by Israel to evacuate eastern parts of Rafah will have "catastrophic consequences" as there are no such thing as "safe zones" in the territory.

British charity Action Aid says the evacuation order in Rafah by Israel would further devastate the war-stricken enclave.

"Forcing over a million displaced Palestinians from Rafah to evacuate without a safe destination is not only unlawful but would lead to catastrophic consequences," a spokesperson said..

"Our aid workers are reporting some of the most severe conditions in recent memory with widespread disease, starvation and chaos. Let us be clear, there are no safe zones in Gaza."

The charity says Israel's actions should prompt immediate action from the international community to prevent more atrocities.

"If an invasion of Rafah is your 'red line' will you do everything possible to stop this imminent attack?” the statement adds.

We reported a little earlier on information provided by the Israeli military that three of its soldiers were killed in a Hamas rocket attack near Kerem Shalom overnight, one of the main crossings used to deliver aid into Gaza.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) now says that a fourth solider was killed.

Hamas's armed wing claimed responsibility and said its target was a nearby Israeli army base.

Talks aimed at securing a ceasefire deal in Gaza and the release of hostages have stalled following the rocket strike.

Subsequent Israeli strikes in the southern Gazan city of Rafah killed at least 19 Palestinians overnight.

Fergal Keane
Special correspondent, Jerusalem

There are more than 1.4 million Gazans crowded into Rafah - five times its pre-war population. According to the Norwegian Refugee Council that works out at 22,000 people for every square kilometre. Already disease is spreading, with outbreaks of diarrhoea, hepatitis A, and meningitis - as well as a continuing hunger crisis.

Rafah is where the refugees of Gaza reach the final wall, the border with Egypt which is closed to the overwhelming majority of the displaced. They arrived after being pushed from one place to another by the advance of the Israeli forces.

Israel has long insisted that it will invade Rafah. But NGOs say there is nowhere for the displaced to go. A new offensive will only result in more civilian dying, they say. And families of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza say their loved ones will be put in further danger by an IDF offensive.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is already preparing for additional field hospitals to help if people are forced to move. But there are questions about what happens to the seriously ill and the elderly currently in overcrowded hospitals in Rafah.

"If you look at our health sector, it is crippled already and an incursion will actually mean that we lose another three hospital," says Rik Peeperkorn, regional director of the WHO, who recently returned from Rafah.

You can read the full story here.

Image source, Getty Images

Displaced Palestinians in Rafah have been sharing their reactions to the call from Israel to evacuate eastern parts of the city.

These are some of the people in Rafah facing a desperate situation following Israel's order:

As Israel warns civilians in eastern Rafah to leave the area ahead of a planned operation there, pictures taken from the southern city show some people getting ready to depart:

Image source, AFP

Image source, AFP

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri has told Reuters news agency that Israel's evacuation order in parts of Rafah is a "dangerous escalation that will have consequences".

Meanwhile Israel's foreign minister says the war in Gaza "continues with the exact same goals: the release of all hostages and the defeat of Hamas".

Posting on X, Israel Katz says "Israel has agreed to significant concessions to bring the hostages home, but Hamas has repeatedly refused."

It comes after two days of talks aimed at securing a ceasefire deal in Gaza and the release of hostages concluded yesterday, with Israel and Hamas still some distance apart on how to end the seven-month conflict.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that “surrendering” to a Hamas demand to end the war would amount to defeat. While the head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh accused Netanyahu of sabotaging the talks.

Image source, Reuters

"It's everything we feared," James Elder, a spokesperson for the United Nation's Children's Fund (Unicef), says of Israel's order for 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate parts of Rafah.

"You now have families who have been displaced multiple times, who have endured trauma that one can’t quite comprehend," he tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme from Geneva, Switzerland.

The Israeli military earlier said evacuees would be directed to tent cities in nearby Khan Younis and al-Mawasi, where aid would be available.

But Elder insists Khan Younis - previously the focus of a months-long onslaught by the Israeli army - is not an option "because it's rubble", so many civilians will choose to go further north.

"But the picture there isn’t much better," with raw sewage flowing through the streets, he says.

The coping capacity of sheltering Palestinians "has been smashed. They have nothing else left, and yet, here they go," Elder says.

Footage from Associated Press shows the current situation at al-Mawasi, a tent city declared a "humanitarian zone" by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

About 100,000 people in eastern Rafah are being urged to move towards al-Mawasi and Khan Younis, ahead of a "limited scope" operation in the city.

Al-Mawasi is a narrow strip of land by the Mediterranean Sea. It has few buildings and largely consists of sandy dunes and agricultural land.

Mother-of-two Ghada al-Kourd is sheltering in Rafah, having been displaced six times in the last four months.

Israel has told 100,000 people in certain areas in the eastern part of the city to evacuate.

Al-Kourd tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme she is just 15 minutes away from one of those areas but for the moment, she's staying put.

“I’m so confused just to be honest. I have no place to go. This was the last place," she says.

Israel is directing Palestinians to go to tent cities in Khan Younis and al-Mawasi, but al-Kourd says she does not believe it would be safe to move to those locations.

She would be concerned for her health living in a tent in such a crowded place in the heat, she says. Khan Younis has been destroyed, she adds, while she also voices her concern about the risk of air strikes and fighting in other areas of Gaza.

Image source, Getty Images

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has been dropping flyers in the eastern area of Rafah calling on civilians to evacuate ahead of a planned operation in the city.

There are two different versions - red and blue.

In the red version, the IDF tells residents of specific areas in Rafah where their forces "will be operating", and warns "anyone found near terrorist organisations endangers themselves and their family members".

It urges citizens to move to the "humanitarian area" in al-Mawasi, and to avoid heading north of Wadi Gaza, or nearing the eastern and southern security fences.

The blue version, meanwhile, announces the expansion of the zone where it says "humanitarian aid will continue".

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees is warning against an Israeli offensive in Rafah and says it will not leave the city, following Israel's call for 100,000 people to evacuate.

"An Israeli offensive in Rafah would mean more civilian suffering & deaths. The consequences would be devastating for 1.4 million people," UNWRA says in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

"UNRWA is not evacuating: the agency will maintain a presence in Rafah as long as possible & will continue providing lifesaving aid to people."

Image source, EPA

Following on from those comments from the office of Israel's defence minister, let's take a look back at recent remarks from the country's prime minister about a Rafah offensive.

Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that Israel would launch an invasion of the southern Gaza city regardless of truce talks with Hamas, saying that he would do this "with or without" a ceasefire deal.

"The idea that we will halt the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question," he said.

"We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there with or without a deal, in order to achieve the total victory," according to a statement issued by Netanyahu's office.

More than half of Gaza's 2.5m population is in Rafah, having fled there to escape fighting in other parts of the territory. Conditions in the overcrowded city are dire, and displaced people there have spoken of a lack of food, water and medication.

The US, along with the UN, have voiced their opposition to an invasion of Rafah.

Read more here

Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant spoke with his US counterpart - Lloyd Austin - on Sunday night, before Israel's call for civilians to leave parts of eastern Rafah.

In a statement, Gallant's office says he told Austin that "military action is required" in Rafah "at the lack of an alternative", due to stalling talks over the release of Israeli hostages.

Hamas has a "lack of seriousness in regard to the frameworks" for their release, the statement continues.

In the Pentagon's readout of the call, it says the pair discussed "ongoing hostage negotiations, humanitarian aid, and Rafah".

In the call Austin "reaffirmed" his commitment for the return of hostages to Israel, the statement continues, adding that he told Gallant there is a need for any military operation in Rafah "to include a credible plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians and maintain the flow of humanitarian aid".