May 7, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

Our live coverage of Israel’s war in Gaza has moved here.

At least 27 people, including six women and nine children, were killed in Rafah since Monday evening, CNN confirmed through hospital sources in the southern Gaza city.

Israel’s military has seized control of the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing, an Israeli military official said Tuesday. International pressure is growing against Israel following the seizure and after it refused to rule out a full-scale invasion in Rafah.

And on Tuesday, rockets were fired from the Rafah area in the Gaza Strip toward Kerem Shalom and the Re’im area of southern Israel, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Here are other headlines you should know:

Rafah offensive and hospital crises:

Ceasefire negotiations:

Aid into Gaza:

US President Joe Biden delivers speech on antisemitism:

Ongoing campus protests:

The remaining field hospitals in the area of an eastern Rafah hospital that was evacuated Monday will only be able to provide less than one-third of its offered services, according to the hospital medical director.

The evacuation to Kareem “happened against our will” after the Israel Defense Forces told people in eastern Rafah they must leave the area, according to Abu Yusuf Najjar Hospital medical director Marwan Al-Homss.

Al Homss confirmed the hospital is now out of service including care for nearly 400 kidney dialysis patients. He said after it closed, vandalism started that led to the theft of fuel that was running the generators.

Hospital crews didn’t leave until all patients were evacuated, he said.

“They were afraid for their lives, and afraid of being killed because of previous instances where Israelis abuse the patients and medical crews,” Al-Homss said.
“Now, with this hospital being out of service, the remaining field hospitals won’t be able to account for 30% of the services Abu Yusuf Najjar provided.”

 Al-Homss said that over the past 48 hours, more than 56 people in the area had been killed, of whom 40% were children.

CNN is unable to confirm his estimate.

A rocket fired from Gaza is intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome defense system near Kerem Shalom, Israel, on May 7.

Rockets were fired from the Rafah area in the Gaza Strip Tuesday toward Kerem Shalom and the Re’im area of southern Israel, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Six projectiles were fired toward Kerem Shalom, the IDF said. 

“The projectiles that were fired toward the area of the Kerem Shalom Crossing are preventing the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. The IDF will continue to operate to enable the necessary security conditions to re-open the Kerem Shalom Crossing,” the IDF said.

The Kerem Shalom crossing, one of the main conduits for humanitarian aid into Gaza, was closed Sunday after a rocket attack nearby killed four Israeli soldiers. It is due to reopen Wednesday, according to the US State Department.

The IDF said about 12 projectiles were also identified crossing from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza into the area of Re’im earlier today. The IDF Aerial Defense Array successfully intercepted five of the projectiles and the rest fell in an open area. No injuries were reported.

“Within less than an hour, IAF aircraft struck the launcher that fired toward Israel.”

When Hamas declared on Monday evening that it has “agreed” to a ceasefire deal, it caught many off guard. Israel was evidently not expecting it, and it was not even immediately clear what Hamas had agreed to.

Hamas’ announcement was initially met with jubilation in Gaza and cautious optimism by regional leaders after it was presented as an acceptance of an Israeli proposal. But Israel issued what looked like a holding position, saying that Hamas’ position was “far from” meeting its demands.

And it pressed on with a controversial military operation in Rafah, southern Gaza, conducting air strikes on Monday and seizing control of the Palestinian side of a border crossing with Egypt on Tuesday morning amid intense pressure from his hardline coalition to go all-in.

At the same time, Israel said that it would send a delegation to Cairo to assess Hamas’ position. The CIA director, Bill Burns, also arrived in Cairo on Tuesday morning.

So what’s going on? Find out here:

US Army soldiers and sailors assemble a floating pier off the shore of Gaza on April 26.

The US has finished the offshore construction of the temporary humanitarian pier system, also known as JLOTS, meant to get aid into Gaza, according to the Defense Department.

“As of today, the construction of the two portions of the JLOTS, the floating pier and the Trident pier, are complete and awaiting final movement offshore,” announced Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh at a briefing.

However, due to weather, the US military is unable to move the pier into position to be anchored ashore in Gaza, according to Singh.

“Today there are still forecasted high winds and high sea swells, which are causing unsafe conditions for the JLOTS components to be moved, so the pier sections and military vessels involved in its construction are still positioned at the Port of Ashdod,” said Singh.

But Singh added that the US is loading aid meant to be unloaded at the temporary pier on the ship MV Sagamore, which is currently in Cyprus. 

“The Sagamore is a cargo vessel that will use the JLOTS system, and will make trips between Cyprus and the offshore floating pier as USAID and other partners collect aid from around the world,” said Singh.

CNN first reported last week that the Sagamore will be the first vessel used to transport the aid from Cyprus to the pier, but US officials hope that aid groups will eventually begin contracting their own vessels to deliver the aid. 

Singh also said that while the pier’s movement would depend on weather and security conditions, the Defense Department hopes to have it in position “later this week.” 

Hamas Representative Osama Hamdan speaks during a press conference in Beirut, Lebanon, on May 7.

A senior representative of Hamas says the proposed deal it agreed to includes the “withdrawal of the occupation from the Gaza Strip.”

Osama Hamdan, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, told a news conference in Beirut that the proposed deal would secure “the main issues of the demands of our people and our resistance in stopping the aggression permanently, the withdrawal of the occupation from the entire Gaza Strip, the free return of the displaced, relief, reconstruction, ending the siege, and achieving a real and serious exchange deal.”

Hamdan said the proposed deal’s three phases would be continuously implemented, claiming that Israel wanted “to complete one stage, in which it would achieve the release of its prisoners held by the resistance, and then resume its aggression against the Gaza Strip.”

Referring to Egypt and Qatar, Hamdan said that “the mediator brothers, if their proposal is approved…will have a role in completing all stages of the agreement, and putting pressure on the occupation to adhere to its provisions and implement them.”

Israel has said there are significant gaps between what Hamas has agreed to and what was on the table in previous rounds of negotiations. In a statement Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Hamas proposal “was designed to torpedo the entry of our forces into Rafah. That did not happen.”

Netanyahu said that “as the war cabinet unanimously determined, the Hamas proposal was very far from Israel’s core demands.”

The White House said Tuesday that a close reading of Israel and Hamas’ separate negotiating positions on a hostage deal indicates the two sides should be able to strike an agreement.

National security spokesman John Kirby’s comment was a fresh sign of optimism about the state of hostage talks after they appeared to stall Monday. CIA Director Bill Burns was in Cairo Tuesday for continued discussions.

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller walked back his comment that Israel’s seizure of the Rafah crossing looked like a “prelude” to a major military operation, saying, “we don’t know if it’s a prelude or not.”

He had earlier told a press conference that the seizure of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza looks like a “prelude” to a major military operation.

“They have described it as limited. It looks at this (point) to not be the major operation that you would see say, for example, if they entered the neighborhoods where they ordered the evacuations,” Miller said when asked about his earlier comments at the State Department briefing.

“They have made clear that they intend to launch a major military operation and we have made clear that we are opposed to that,” Miller added.

New satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies shows how the area near to the Egypt-Gaza Rafah crossing has changed in the hours since Israel’s operation there. The images were taken this afternoon at 2:26 p.m. local time. 

One image shows a fire at the Arab Mall in eastern Rafah, just a mile north of the Egypt-Gaza crossing. It’s unclear what started the fire, but there have been Israeli military strikes in the area. 

In northern Rafah, the area filled with tents from refugees appears to remain largely unchanged from days past. 

On the Egyptian side of the border, aid trucks that had gathered at the Egyptian border complex have since been moved into a buffer zone near the Gaza border. In recent months, Egypt worked to bulldoze the area and build a new wall along its Gaza border.

The roadway connecting the Egypt-Gaza border is also seen sealed on the Egyptian side by large cement walls. Egypt has periodically sealed this roadway section at the border since the start of the Israeli incursion into Gaza.  

A Palestinian boy stands in front of a destroyed building following Israeli bombardment of Rafah's Tal al-Sultan district in the southern Gaza, on May 7.

In comments he later walked back, the US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Israel’s seizure of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza looks like a “prelude” to a major military operation.

Miller later walked back the comment, saying, “we don’t know if it’s a prelude or not.”

He said that at present the Israeli military operation to seize control of the Rafah crossing appears to be “a limited operation at this time.”

“This military operation that they launched last night was targeted just to Rafah Gate. It wasn’t an operation in the civilian areas that they had ordered to be evacuated, so we will continue to make clear that we oppose a major military operation in Rafah,” he said.

Miller said that the operation does not qualify as the kind of action in Rafah that the US has warned Israel against conducting.

“This appears to be a limited operation, but of course, much of that depends on what comes next,” said Miller. “They have said, I think quite clearly, it’s no secret that they want to conduct a major military operation there. We have made clear that we oppose such an operation.”

Miller would not say what the US response would be if Israel carried out a major operation, which the US has repeatedly tried to deter Israel from undertaking.

CNN has confirmed through hospital sources in Rafah the deaths of 27 people since Monday evening, including six women and nine children.

“Obviously, every death of any civilian, but especially children, is a tragedy whether they’re in Rafah or anywhere else inside Gaza, and we’ve made that clear,” Miller said.

This post has been updated to include Miller’s subsequent remarks

State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller speaks to reporters during a press briefing at the State Department in Washington, DC, on April 1.

The US State Department condemned an alleged attack by Israeli extremists on a Jordanian humanitarian aid convoy bound for Gaza and said they had raised the incident with the Israeli government. 

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on X Tuesday that “the Israel government is fully responsible for the attack on a Jordanian aid convoy en route to Erez by radical settlers who again committed their despicable crime unchallenged by Israeli authorities.”

Another Jordanian convoy en route to the aid crossing last week was also assaulted by Israeli extremists. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was in Israel when it happened, told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “that these attacks on aid shipments are unacceptable, and that Israel ought to take steps to prevent them,” Miller said last week.

Miller on Tuesday said Israel’s arrest of three people for a previous attack on an aid convoy was “obviously the appropriate thing to do.”

“This is something that happened for the first time, the first time with this particular route, last week when we were in Israel, and the secretary raised it directly with Prime Minister Netanyahu,” said Miller, referring to Blinken’s recent trip to Israel.

A truck carrying humanitarian aid bound for the Gaza Strip arrives at the inspection area of the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Israel, on March 14.

Israel “has committed to reopen” the Kerem Shalom crossing on Wednesday, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Tuesday.

“We’re working to make sure that that actually happens so humanitarian assistance can continue to come through,” Miller said at a State Department briefing, noting that the crossing was closed because it was bombed by Hamas. 

Miller also said Israel told the US that Rafah “will reopen for the delivery of fuel,” which he said is “incredibly important to desalinization of water” and to transport aid across the Gaza Strip.

“If Kerem Shalom opens and Rafah reopens, those will be important steps because we don’t want to see humanitarian assistance limited or impeded in any way,” he said.

Israel closed the Kerem Shalom crossing last week after it was hit by at least 10 rockets, killing three Israeli soldiers, in an attack claimed by Hamas.

The head of the main United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said Tuesday that the crossings must be opened “without any delay.”

People mourn relatives who were killed after an Israeli attack, at the Al Merouani Field Hospital in Rafah, Gaza, on May 7.

At least 27 people, including six women and nine children, have died in Rafah since Monday evening, CNN has confirmed through hospital sources in the southern Gaza city.

Multiple videos from Rafah on Tuesday show intense Israeli military activity in the area, especially in eastern Rafah and in the area around the crossing into Egypt.

Five members of one family were killed when a house in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood was struck. In the same area, 10 people were killed in an airstrike on another house, including eight members of one family.

Reports said that the Israeli military targeted a house Tuesday in a neighborhood east of Rafah (al Geneina), where a number of people were killed and injured.

The reports said that the bodies of three children – aged four months, six and eight years old – were taken to the Kuwait Specialized Hospital, as were 17 people who had been injured. Later in the day, the body of a 35-year-old man was brought to the hospital, according to a CNN stringer in Rafah.

Israel began a military operation in Rafah late Monday evening, after saying the ceasefire proposal agreed to by Hamas was “far from” meeting Israel’s demands.

Hamas’ latest written response in ongoing ceasefire negotiations says the group intends to offer Israel the corpses of dead hostages in addition to hostages who are still alive, during the first phase of the truce, according to sources familiar with the talks.

The latest framework suggested by Hamas says that Israel would get 33 hostages back during the first pause in fighting.

However, if Hamas cannot locate 33 living hostages, “the number of this category will be completed from the corpses,” according to a Hamas document obtained by CNN.

The offer was swiftly met with opposition from Israel and could emerge as a sticking point in the ongoing talks.

One United States official said it was the first time Hamas has explicitly proposed this framework, but the idea of sending corpses has previously been floated in discussions. Israel has repeatedly rejected including the bodies of dead hostages as part of the first phase of hostages released, which is meant to include the most vulnerable people: women, children, the elderly and the sick.

A second person familiar with the talks said Israeli officials have privately believed for some time that there are not 33 living hostages in this vulnerable category.

An Israeli source told CNN that Israel will not agree to include corpses in the first category of hostages to be released, since this would be tantamount to “giving license to kill” the remaining living hostages.

National security spokesman John Kirby speaks during a news conference at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 6.

The White House said Tuesday that a close reading of Israel and Hamas’ separate negotiating positions on a ceasefire-for-hostage deal suggests that both sides should be able to strike an agreement.

CIA Director Bill Burns was in Cairo, Egypt, for continued discussions Tuesday, after Hamas on Monday accepted a ceasefire proposal, but which Israel said was “far from” meeting its demands.

Aid deliveries: Kirby stressed it is “absolutely critical” that Israel allow humanitarian aid into Gaza after Israel’s military seized control of crossings at Kerem Shalom and Rafah, blocking two vital points for aid into the Strip.

“Rafah right now is closed because of this operation they’re conducting, and Kerem Shalom has been closed now for several days,” National Security spokesman John Kirby told CNN.

Israel’s military captured the Palestinian side of Rafah crossing in an overnight raid launched late Monday, after ordering Gazans in parts of Rafah to evacuate earlier in the day. Kerem Shalom was closed last week after it was hit by at least 10 rockets, killing three Israeli soldiers, in an attack claimed by Hamas.

A Palestinian man watches smoke rise following Israeli strikes in the eastern part of Rafah on May 7.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel’s operation in Gaza will continue until Hamas is eliminated in Rafah and the entire Gaza Strip, or until the first hostage returns.

On a visit Tuesday to the border of the Gaza Strip, near the Rafah area, Gallant told troops he had on Monday ordered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to seize the Rafah crossing and carry out its mission.

“This operation will continue until we eliminate Hamas in the Rafah area and the entire Gaza Strip, or until the first hostage returns,” Gallant said.

Gallant said Israel was “ready to make compromises” to bring the hostages home, “but if this option is removed, we will go and deepen the operation” across the entire Gaza Strip. He told soldiers that they were going after the perpetrators of the October 7 massacre, when more than 1,200 Israelis were killed by Hamas militants.

Gallant claimed “Hamas only responds to force, so we will intensify our actions.”

Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet, said the Israeli military’s operations in Rafah will “continue and expand as necessary.”

Gantz, widely seen as a potential successor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said returning the hostages held in Gaza remained the cabinet’s “highest priority,” while talks over a ceasefire-for-hostages deal with Hamas continue.

He said Israel’s negotiating team in Egypt, where talks with Hamas have been taking place, “does not have a mandate just to listen – it has an obligation to turn over every stone, and to act to bring about an outline [for a deal]. We all work to make this happen, every day.”

Gantz has been one of the most vocal members of Netanyahu’s cabinet calling for an acceptable ceasefire deal, while the more extreme wing of the coalition has said destroying Hamas in Rafah must remain the priority.

“Our achievements, even if it takes a long time to achieve them, must be strategic – and the return of our hostages is the first strategic goal, alongside the need to remove the threat of Hamas and make sure that such a threat does not re-emerge,” he said.

Israelis demonstrate during a protest calling for a hostage deal in Tel Aviv on May 6.

A majority of Jewish Israelis see reaching a deal to release the hostages in Gaza as a higher priority than military action in Rafah, a poll published Tuesday has found.

The poll, conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), asked participants what should be the highest priority in terms of Israeli national interest: military action in Rafah or a deal to release the hostages held by Hamas.

The survey found that a majority of the Jewish public (56%) agree that a deal to release the hostages should be the top priority for Israel, while 37% say military action in Rafah should be the top priority.

Among Arab Israelis, nearly 89% said a deal to release the hostages is more important.

Data collection was carried out from May 1 to 6, 2024, with 600 men and women interviewed via the internet and by telephone in Hebrew and 150 in Arabic.

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes near the Rafah crossing on May 7.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel’s military operation in Rafah serves the twin goals of returning the hostages held in Gaza and eliminating Hamas.

“I ordered to operate in Rafah. Within hours, our forces raised the Israeli flags at the Rafah crossing and took down the Hamas flags,” Netanyahu said in a video statement Tuesday, describing operations that began overnight.

“The entrance to Rafah serves two main war goals: the return of our hostages and the elimination of Hamas.”

Netanyahu said that, as previously demonstrated, “military pressure on Hamas is a necessary condition for the return of our hostages. The Hamas proposal yesterday was intended to torpedo the entry of our forces into Rafah. It did not happen.”

Hamas accepted a ceasefire proposal Monday evening, but Israel said the deal remained “far from” meeting its demands. Netanyahu confirmed he’d sent Israel’s negotiating team to Cairo, Egypt’s capital, to continue to “stand firm” on the conditions Israel is seeking.

The last remaining operational hospital in Rafah has issued a call for all available medical teams to help with the constant influx of injured patients arriving at the medical facility. 

In a statement released on its official WhatsApp account, Dr. Suhaib Al-Hams, Director of Kuwait Specialized Hospital, said on Tuesday it was “receiving dozens of martyrs,” using a term to refer to people who had been killed, “and injuries around the clock.”

“The Rafah governorate is experiencing a major health disaster in light of the continuous and intense Israeli bombing of the governorate,” Al-Hams added. “We call on all medical teams to fulfil their duties and responsibilities and go urgently to Kuwait Hospital due to a shortage of specialized medical personnel.”

Al-Hams also said their X-ray machine was out of service “due to the pressure of the number of cases.”

“The Kuwait Specialized Hospital in Rafah is the only hospital operating now with minimal capabilities after Al-Najjar Hospital went out of service due to it being classified within the red zone,” the statement adds. 

IDF International Spokesperson Nadav Shoshani said in a statement Tuesday that the Israeli military were undertaking “a precise counterterrorism operation” to “eliminate Hamas terrorists and dismantle Hamas terrorist infrastructure within specific areas in eastern Rafah.” 

Smoke rises after an Israeli strike during a ground and air operation in the eastern part of Rafah, Gaza, on May 7.

International pressure is growing against Israel, as the country’s forces seized the Palestinian side of a crossing in Rafah and refused to rule out a full-scale invasion of the south Gaza city.

The Biden administration’s longtime support for Israel has come under scrutiny as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza grows, with senior US officials increasingly expressing concern about a potential full-scale military operation in Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have been sheltering.

CIA Director Bill Burns is returning to Cairo on Tuesday for more talks, a source familiar with the meetings told CNN, as the US and other mediators look to bring about a ceasefire-for-hostages deal.

The World Health Organization’s regional director, Hanan Balkhy, warned of the consequences of the Israeli military operation, writing on X that it put the lives of 1.5 million people “in grave danger.” She added that humanitarian groups were “committed to staying and delivering” aid and called for the Rafah border crossing to be “urgently reopened.”

Earlier, UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said the crossing closure could bring humanitarian efforts across the Gaza Strip to a standstill. Egypt’s foreign ministry condemned Israel for taking control of the Palestinian side of the key crossing, calling the move a “dangerous escalation.”

UN chief Antonio Guterres has called on Israel and Hamas to reach a deal to end the bloodshed, while the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell reiterated calls on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to attack Rafah.

“I am afraid that this is going to cause again a lot of casualties, civilian casualties, whatever they say. There are 600,000 children in Gaza. They will be pushed to so-called ‘safety zones’ — there are no safe zones in Gaza,” he said. 

Rafah residents were informed via airdropped leaflets over the past 48 hours to head for Israeli-designated “expanded humanitarian areas.” Aid groups have previously said that one of them — Al-Mawasi, a coastal town near Khan Younis — is not appropriate for habitation.

President Joe Biden speaks at the US Capitol on Tuesday, May 7.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday repeatedly drew parallels between the Holocaust and the October 7 attack on Israel in a somber yet impassioned speech at the US Capitol.

Biden condemned antisemitism, both in the US and around the world, saying the “ancient hatred of Jews” didn’t begin – or end – with Nazi Germany’s horrific campaign eight decades ago.

“This hatred continues to lie deep in the hearts of too many people in the world and requires our continued vigilance and outspokenness,” Biden said.

He pointed to what he described as a “ferocious surge” of antisemitism in the US after the October 7 attacks, condemning hate speech and threats against Jews in recent months.

“We have to remember, our basic principles as a nation: we have an obligation – to learn the lessons of history, so we don’t surrender our future to the horrors of the past,” he said, reaffirming the right of free speech as he roundly condemned antisemitism, hate speech, and threats of violence “against Jews or anyone else.”

The president called for Americans to forcefully address and stand against antisemitism and all forms of hate.

“’Never again,’ simply translated for me means, never forget. Never forgetting means we must keep telling the story, we must keep teaching the truth, we must keep teaching our children and our grandchildren. The truth is, we’re at risk of people not knowing the truth,” Biden said.

US President Joe Biden delivers a speech on antisemitism at the US Capitol on May 7.

President Joe Biden pointed to a “ferocious surge” in antisemitism in the United States since the October 7 attack on Israel while offering a sweeping call for a return to the nation’s values.

“Too many people denying, downplaying, rationalizing and ignoring the horrors of the Holocaust and October 7 - including Hamas’ appalling use of sexual violence to torture and terrorize. It’s absolutely despicable - and it must stop,” the president said while raising his voice.

He added: “We have to remember our basic principles as a nation: we have an obligation to learn the lessons of history, so we don’t surrender our future to the horror of the past.”

US President Joe Biden delivers a speech on antisemitism at the US Capitol on May 7.

President Joe Biden addressed the protests that have been roiling college campuses in recent weeks in response to Israel’s war in Gaza while speaking on antisemitism on Tuesday.

“I understand people have strong beliefs and deep convictions about the world,” Biden said, adding that he respects the fundamental right to free speech and debate.

“That’s America,” he said. “But there’s no place on any campus in America … for antisemitism or hate speech or threats of violence of any kind.”

Biden added: “It’s not peaceful protest. It’s against the law. And we are not a lawless country.”

The president added: “We must give hate no safe harbor against anyone.”

US President Joe Biden delivers a speech on antisemitism at the US Capitol on May 7.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday drew connections between the Holocaust and the October 7 attack on Israel.

While delivering a speech on antisemitism at the US Capitol on Tuesday, the president said he fears “people are forgetting” – despite the phrase “never forget” becoming one of the lasting legacies of the the Holocaust.

“They’re already forgetting that Hamas unleashed this terror,” he said.

Biden added: “I have not forgotten, nor have you, and we will not forget.”

US President Joe Biden delivers remarks on antisemitism at the US Capitol on May 7.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday opened his speech on antisemitism at the US Capitol honoring the victims of the Holocaust - and warning that the memories of that genocide might be sliding from the public’s perception

“The truth is we’re at risk of people not knowing the truth,” Biden said at the US Capitol, speaking at the US Holocaust Museum’s Days of Remembrance ceremony.

Biden added: “We honor the memory of victims [and] the pain of survivors.”

Biden said that he believes the phrase “never again” means “never forget.”

President Joe Biden attends a rally in Union Station, Washington D.C., on April 9.

President Joe Biden will deliver a speech on antisemitism from the US Capitol on Tuesday, delivering a keynote address at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s annual Days of Remembrance Ceremony.

Biden is expected to speak about the October 7 attack on Israel as well as the subsequent rise in antisemitism across the country, CNN’s MJ Lee and Betsy Klein reported.

The White House said Biden also plans to honor the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust and “recommit to heeding the lessons of this dark chapter: Never again.”

Students of the Complutense University of Madrid place a Palestinian flag beside a tent after setting up a pro-Palestinian encampment in Madrid, Spain, on May 7.

Students in the Spanish capital set up a pro-Palestinian protest encampment at the Complutense University of Madrid on Tuesday. 

Like many of their counterparts around the world, the several dozen students are asking the university to divest from Israel-linked businesses and entities, as well as requesting the Spanish government cut diplomatic and commercial ties with Israel, according to a CNN en Español team on the ground.

About 60 to 70 students are protesting peacefully in the encampment. The students said they plan to camp through the weekend, when they will participate in a planned rally in Madrid.

Encampment protests over the war have spread across US universities and colleges. Many of those student protesters are also calling on their universities to divest — or end investments and business partnerships — with Israel-linked institutions and businesses.

Palestinians fleeing eastern Rafah described to CNN how they “fled from death” after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Monday ordered residents to evacuate.

One man, Rabee Gharableh, told CNN that it was his family’s seventh time being displaced.

“The situation is very difficult … we left in fear, as civilian houses were being targeted, people we know. The shelling was arbitrary and random last night,” Gharableh said.

Another woman, who did not share her name, said she “fled from death” with her children. She said her family has been displaced over 10 times since the war broke out and had “endured much suffering and humiliation.”

Wael Nabhan, another man who arrived in Deir el Balah from Rafah on Tuesday, told CNN that his family has also been displaced several times, and have been forced to eat animal food and walk on streets littered with dead bodies. He said they had “endured oppression that no one should ever experience.”

Meanwhile, in Rafah, several people told CNN that they don’t know where to go. One man, Odeh Asaliyeh, said “death is more dignified than this,” and said he “prays to get hit and find rest from all of this.”

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during a press conference at U.N. headquarters in New York City, on February 8.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement that would “stop the unbearable suffering of Palestinians in Gaza and of the hostages and their families.”

He told reporters at the UN Security Council on Tuesday that a ceasefire and hostage deal is needed now, and that Israel must stop any escalation in Rafah.

“It would be tragic if weeks of intense diplomatic activity for peace in Gaza yield no ceasefire. No release of hostages. And a devastating offensive in Rafah,” he said.

Guterres urged both Israel and Hamas to “spare no effort to secure an agreement now” in an attempt to “stop the bloodshed.”

Some background: Hamas accepted a ceasefire proposal Monday evening, but Israel said the terms of the deal remained “far from” meeting its demands and warned its military operations in Rafah would continue.

Guterres said he was “disturbed and distressed” by Israel’s renewed military activity in Rafah, and called for both the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings to be reopened to allow aid to enter Gaza.

CIA director William Burns attends a hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill, Washington D.C, on March 11.

CIA Director Bill Burns will return to Cairo on Tuesday for more talks, a source familiar with the meetings told CNN, as the US and other mediators look to revive an effort to bring about a ceasefire-for-hostages deal.

The main negotiations in Cairo are at the working level and Burns is not expected to join those, but he will meet the various delegations. Both Israel and Qatar has said they would be sending teams.

A Qatari foreign ministry spokesman described the latest round of talks in Cairo as “indirect negotiations between the two parties,” since Israel isn’t expected to meet with Hamas officials.

Burns returned to Cairo late last week before moving to Doha over the weekend for further talks on the potential ceasefire deal in Gaza. In Doha, he helped rework the framework with the Qataris that was then presented to Hamas that the group responded to on Monday.

Israel said the terms of that proposal were “far from” meeting its demands, and warned that it would press ahead with a military operation in Gaza.

Displaced Palestinians travel on a cart in Rafah, on May 7.

Hamas on Tuesday said Israel’s entrance into Rafah on Monday night constituted a “humanitarian catastrophe,” posing “a direct threat to more than 1.5 million displaced Palestinians.”

The militant group said in a statement that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) “launched a ground aggression” in Rafah, where Israeli troops took control of the Palestinian side of the border crossing with Egypt.

In a separate statement, Gaza’s Ministry of Interior and National Security warned that “closing the Rafah crossing in the context of the catastrophic conditions in the Gaza Strip exacerbates the humanitarian crisis and completely isolates the Strip from the outside world. It represents a policy of collective punishment against more than 2 million people”.

The ministry described the crossing as “a main lifeline for citizens in the Gaza strip” which “does not represent any threat to the Israeli occupation.”

The IDF said in a statement Tuesday its ground troops “began a precise counterterrorism operation” within “specific areas of eastern Rafah,” based on intelligence and aimed at dismantling Hamas infrastructure.

The key crossing at Rafah is Gaza’s only border facility not previously controlled by Israel, and has allowed limited humanitarian aid to enter the enclave in recent months.

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday aims to issue a clarion call to fight a swiftly rising tide of antisemitism at a precarious moment in Israel’s war against Hamas and as protests have swept American college campuses, laying bare Biden’s trouble with some young voters.

Biden’s longtime and stalwart support for Israel has come under intense pressure as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza grows. More than 34,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7 despite the president’s efforts to convince Israel to strike a balance between defending itself and preventing the deaths of Palestinian civilians. While ceasefire talks are ongoing, there is now the looming threat of a full-scale Israeli military invasion into the Gazan city of Rafah where many civilians have taken refuge.

Biden will deliver a keynote address Tuesday at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s annual Days of Remembrance ceremony at the US Capitol, remarks the White House says will honor the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust and “recommit to heeding the lessons of this dark chapter: Never again.”

Biden is expected to “speak to the horrors of October 7,” as well as the subsequent “alarming rise in antisemitism” in the US, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

The president spoke out forcefully against intensifying antisemitism and Islamophobia in the days after Hamas’ attacks on Israel, saying in an October 19 Oval Office address that Americans “can’t stand by and stand silent.” Yet in the seven months since the war began, Islamophobic and antisemitic incidents have significantly increased.

Full story:

Relatives mourn over the bodies of family members killed in an Israeli airstrike, at Al Merouani Field Hospital in Rafah, on May 7.

Twenty-three people were killed, including six children, in Israeli airstrikes on Rafah overnight, medical officials at hospitals in Rafah said in an updated statement on Tuesday.

The Palestinian Civil Defense earlier said its teams had recovered bodies from several homes struck by Israeli aircraft in Rafah.

Israel has vowed to “exert military pressure on Hamas” in Rafah, and took control of the city’s border crossing with Egypt, after earlier saying the ceasefire terms the Palestinian militant group responded to Monday were “far from” meeting its demands.

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces regarding the overnight strikes. The IDF said Monday it is “currently conducting targeted strikes against Hamas terror targets in eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.”

Israel has ordered the forced evacuation of people in eastern Rafah as it continues to threaten a full-scale invasion of the city, despite growing international pressure to hold off.

Two Israeli flags mounted outside the main building of the Rafah crossing in Gaza on May 7.

Egypt’s foreign ministry condemned Israel on Tuesday for taking control of the Palestinian side of the key Rafah border crossing, calling the move a “dangerous escalation.”

The ministry said it threatened “the lives of more than a million Palestinians who depend primarily on this crossing as the main lifeline of the Gaza Strip.”

Israel’s military confirmed earlier that it had taken control of the Palestinian side of the crossing between Gaza and Egypt, a crucial entry point for humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave. 

The facility is the only Gaza border crossing not controlled by Israel, and has served as the entry point for much of the limited humanitarian aid that has entered Gaza.

Egypt called on the Israeli side to exercise “the utmost levels of restraint” and “stay away” from policies that would threaten a potential truce.

Egypt is working with Qatar as mediators in talks for a ceasefire-for-hostages deal.

Relatives and supporters of hostages taken captive by Hamas militants during the October 7 attacks, hold placards during a demonstration calling for their release, in Tel Aviv, on May 6.

Long-running diplomatic talks aimed at deescalating the war appeared to be on the cusp of producing a ceasefire agreement in recent days, before stalling at a familiar place of disappointment.

Hamas said in a Monday statement that it had told the Qatari prime minister and Egyptian intelligence minister that it had accepted their proposals for a ceasefire-for-hostages deal.

But Israel said the terms of a ceasefire proposal were “far from” meeting its demands, and warned that it would press ahead with a military operation in Rafah. Nonetheless, it sent negotiators to talk to mediators.

Here’s what we know and where we stand.

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, rings a bell to signify the start of a meeting of EU foreign and development ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Belgium, on May 7, to discuss the humanitarian aspects and reconstruction in Gaza.

The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, added his voice to mounting criticism against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday for ignoring international demands against an attack on Rafah, which has become a new focal point in the seven-month war.  

Despite Hamas agreeing to a draft ceasefire deal, Netanyahu has vowed to go ahead with an attack on the city. Israeli forces have taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, a vital entry point for aid to Gaza on the Egyptian border.

The move is short of Netanyahu’s threatened full-scale operation on Rafah, but Borrell described it as a land offensive.

“The land offensive against Rafah has started again, in spite of all of the requests of the international community — the US, the European Union member states — everybody asking Netanyahu not to attack Rafah,” the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy said in a briefing Tuesday. 

“In spite of these warnings and these requests, the attack started yesterday night. I am afraid that this is going to cause again a lot of casualties, civilian casualties, whatever they say. There are 600,000 children in Gaza. They will be pushed to so-called ‘safety zones’ — there are no safe zones in Gaza.” 

Earlier on Tuesday, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) operations in Gaza, Suze van Meegen, made similar remarks, telling CNN: “Not only is there nowhere safe to go, for many people there’s also no way to get there.”

Borrell also described the lack of agreement on a ceasefire as “sad news,” adding: “Hamas accepted, Israel rejected.” 

Israeli military vehicles operate in the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing in this image released on May 7.

Israel’s military on Tuesday said it had seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, a vital entry point for aid to Gaza on the Egyptian border.

A Palestinian official said all movement had stopped at the facility in southern Gaza after it was captured by Israeli tanks.

Here’s what to know about the crossing:

An aerial view shows a line of trucks queuing on a road along Egypt's border with Israel, near the Rafah crossing with Gaza, on May 2.

Humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza may be brought to a standstill by Israeli troops’ seizure of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing, a UN agency warned on Tuesday.

“Continued interruption of the entry of aid and fuel supplies at the Rafah crossing will halt the critical humanitarian response across the Gaza Strip,” said UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, in a post on social platform X.

The “catastrophic hunger faced by people especially in northern Gaza will get much worse if these supply routes are interrupted,” UNRWA added.

Israel’s military said it has taken control of the Palestinian side of the crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which is a crucial entry point for humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave. A Palestinian official said all movement had stopped at the facility after it was captured by Israeli tanks.

CNN has reached out to Israel’s military and officials for comment on any plans to facilitate aid deliveries to Gaza.

Palestinians inspect the area after an Israeli strike on a residential building in Rafah, Gaza, on May 7.

A limited Israeli operation into Rafah is intended to keep pressure on Hamas to agree to a deal that would bring about a ceasefire and a hostage release, a source familiar with Israeli plans told CNN.

Israel informed the US of the plans to evacuate the area in eastern Rafah and conduct the operation before the call Monday between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the source said.

The source described the operation as “very limited” and said it is not the larger incursion into Rafah that Israel has been publicly messaging for weeks.

Some context: Israeli airstrikes killed multiple people in Rafah early Tuesday, Palestinian officials said, after Israel reiterated its commitment to an offensive in southern Gaza, saying ceasefire terms responded to by Hamas were “far from” meeting its demands. Israel will send a delegation for further talks, which Qatar said would resume Tuesday. 

A photo from social media shows two Israeli flags mounted outside the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing’s main building, on May 7.

Israel’s military has seized control of the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing, an Israeli military official said Tuesday.

The facility is the sole crossing between Gaza and Egypt and a crucial entry point for humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Military operations at the crossing are ongoing, the official added.

“We have special forces scanning the crossing; that is what’s happening in the upcoming hours,” they said. “We have operational control of the area of the crossing and we have special forces handling there.”  

The official refused to say how long Israeli troops would control the crossing,

Video from the Israel Defense Forces showed Israeli flags raised on the Palestinian side of the crossing.

Earlier, a Palestinian official told CNN all movement on the crossing had stopped after Israeli tanks captured the facility on the Palestinian side.

This post has been updated with additional information.

Palestinians injured after an Israeli airstrike wait for medical treatment in Rafah, Gaza on May 7.

Palestinians awoke to the sound of Israeli airstrikes in Rafah on Tuesday, with hundreds of thousands of displaced people in the southern Gaza city at a loss for where to go next, an aid worker said.

Speaking to CNN from Rafah, Suze van Meegen, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) operations in Gaza, said she saw thousands of people fleeing the airstrikes and the “increasing sound of artillery southeast as well, which is very close to the Rafah crossing.”

More than 1 million Palestinians have fled to Rafah during seven months of war; many of them have described their fear and despair after Israel’s military told them to evacuate eastern parts of the city on Monday.

Israel’s deadly strikes early Tuesday came after Israeli officials said ceasefire terms that Hamas responded to Monday were “far from” meeting its demands.

Confusion over a purported ceasefire deal had initially sparked “huge celebrations on the streets” of Rafah before the Israeli bombing resumed, Van Meegen said.

“It’s adding to the confusion, but also the emotional roller coaster that people are being dragged along,” she said. “And what we’re seeing is that people just can’t  take anymore of the ups and downs and the uncertainty — and wondering whether they can protect their kids and families.”

A man mourns by the shrouded body of a Palestinian child killed in an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, on May 7.

Israeli airstrikes on Rafah overnight killed 15 people, including a child, according to hospital officials in southern Gaza on Tuesday.

The reports from medical officials at the Abu Yousef Al Najjar and Al Kuwaiti hospitals come after the Palestinian Civil Defense earlier said its teams had recovered bodies from several homes struck by Israeli aircraft in Rafah.

Israel has vowed to “exert military pressure on Hamas” in Rafah after saying the ceasefire terms the Palestinian militant group responded to Monday were “far from” meeting its demands.

All movement on the Rafah crossing has stopped after Israeli tanks captured the facility on the Palestinian side, a Palestinian official told CNN on Tuesday.

The facility is the sole crossing between Gaza and Egypt and a crucial entry point for humanitarian aid.

“Passenger movement and entry of aid to the Gaza Strip has completely ceased,” said Wael Abu Omar, a spokesperson for the General Authority of Border and Crossing.

Crossings stopped “after Israeli tanks captured the crossing facilities from the Palestinian side,” he said, adding the facility had been under fire since Monday afternoon.

Images spreading on social media show Israeli flags and a video of a tank at the crossing. 

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for a response, and an announcement is expected soon. 

Palestinians flee from Rafah, Gaza, on May 6.

Palestinian civilians told to evacuate eastern Rafah by the Israeli military have described their fear and despair at being uprooted from their homes and shelters, as Israel airstrikes hit Gaza’s southernmost city.

“We left because they distributed leaflets,” Mohammed Ghanem, a resident in eastern Rafah told a CNN stringer in the area on Monday. “(They) are striking everywhere without differentiating between children, adults, militants or non-militants. I left my house that I have been building for 17 years.”

Ghanem and his wife were pushing strollers piled high with belongings. “We no longer have a home. We are heading to Mawasi because there is no safety with the Israelis. They are killing women and children,” he said.

Another woman from eastern Rafah said, “The Israelis sent us messages ordering us to leave. We cannot stay.”

Earlier on Monday, the Israeli military called on an estimated 100,000 Palestinians living in parts of eastern Rafah to “evacuate immediately,” telling them to move to Al-Mawasi, a coastal town near the city of Khan Younis that aid groups say is not appropriate for habitation.

In a statement, the office of Israel’s prime minister said the country’s war cabinet had “unanimously decided” to continue with the Rafah operation “to exert military pressure on Hamas.”

Read the full story.

People inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Rafah on Tuesday, May 7.

Israeli airstrikes killed multiple people in Rafah early Tuesday, Palestinian officials said, after Israel reiterated its commitment to an offensive in southern Gaza.

Israel has vowed to “exert military pressure on Hamas” in Rafah after saying the ceasefire terms the Palestinian militant group responded to Monday were “far from” meeting its demands.

International leaders, including the United Nations chief, have urged Israel and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire deal as tensions escalate on the ground after the Israeli military called on Palestinians in eastern Rafah to “evacuate immediately.”

Here’s what to know:

US President Joe Biden and King Abdullah II of Jordan “discussed the latest developments in Gaza and affirmed their commitment to work together towards an enduring end to the crisis” during their lunch at the White House Monday, the White House said.

“They further underscored the need for an immediate release of the hostages held by Hamas and a sustainable ceasefire that allows for a surge of the urgently needed humanitarian assistance to be delivered safely through Gaza,” a readout of the meeting released by the White House said.
“Both remain committed to achieving a durable, lasting peace to include a pathway to a Palestinian state, with security guarantees for Israel.”

Both Biden and Abdullah “reiterated their shared commitment to facilitating the increased, sustained delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians in Gaza,” the White House said. Biden also thanked the king for his “critical leadership and partnership in this effort.”

Abdullah warned Biden in their meeting that an Israeli attack on Rafah, where about 1.4 million Palestinians are internally displaced “threatens to lead to a new massacre,” according to a post on X from Jordan’s Royal Hashemite Court.

Civil defense teams transport several injured people following Israeli attacks in Rafah, southern Gaza.

Israeli airstrikes killed a number of Palestinians and injured others early Tuesday, Palestinian officials said.

In a statement published alongside photos of at least two bodies inside body bags, the Palestinian Civil Defense said it had rescued “several injured individuals from under the rubble of several homes which were bombed by Israeli warplanes tonight in various places” in Rafah.

Eight Palestinians were killed in two attacks on Rafah, although the exact timeframe remains unclear, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Rafah’s Kuwait hospital said it received 11 dead, according to a post on its Facebook account in the early hours of Tuesday.

The reports come after Israel reiterated its commitment to an offensive in southern Gaza, saying ceasefire terms accepted by Hamas were “far from” meeting its demands.

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment.

An Israeli ground invasion of Rafah would be “intolerable,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday.

Guterres said he had made a “very strong appeal” to both the Israeli government and the leadership of Hamas to “go an extra mile” to reach a ceasefire agreement.

“This is an opportunity that cannot be missed,” he added.

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike east of Rafah, on May 6.

Israel said the terms of a ceasefire proposal Hamas accepted on Monday remained “far from” meeting its demands and warned its military operations in Rafah would continue, even as it sent negotiators to talk to mediators.

In a statement Monday, Hamas said the head of its political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, told the Qatari prime minister and Egyptian intelligence minister that the militant group had accepted their proposals for a ceasefire and hostage deal.

Palestinians celebrated that statement in the streets of Gaza, while in Tel Aviv, hostage families and their supporters implored Israel’s leaders to accept the deal.

However, shortly afterwards, Israel said the terms Hamas had accepted were still far from meeting its “requirements,” and reiterated its commitment to an offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, saying its war cabinet had “unanimously decided” to continue with the operation “to exert military pressure on Hamas.” It did agree, though, to send a delegation to the mediators for further talks.

Later on Monday evening, the Israel Defense Forces said it was “conducting targeted strikes against Hamas terror targets in eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.” Video and images obtained by CNN showed multiple explosions in the Rafah area on Monday night.

CNN political and global affairs analyst Barak Ravid said Israeli forces were going to take over the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing in the next few hours, citing two sources with direct knowledge.

The news comes just hours after Israel ordered Palestinians living in Rafah, a city in southern Gaza, to “evacuate immediately.”

The order raised fears that Israel’s long-threatened assault on the city could be imminent. More than 1 million Palestinians have fled to Rafah, where Hamas is believed to have regrouped after Israel’s destruction of much of the north of Gaza.

Read the full story.

Sounds of apparent gunfire at the Rafah border crossing were heard from the Egyptian side early Tuesday, in footage from Egyptian state broadcaster Al Qahera News.

The looped footage appears to show a checkpoint with no people in the frame. The apparent gunshots were heard around 1:33 a.m. local time, according to the state broadcaster.

It is not immediately clear if this is the start of ground operations in Rafah.

CNN cannot independently verify the footage.

Some context: Located in Egypt’s north Sinai, the Rafah crossing is the sole border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. It falls along an 8-mile (12.8-kilometer) fence that separates Gaza from the Sinai desert.

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03:01 - Source: cnn

A view of lighting flare fired by the Israeli army in Rafah, Gaza on May 6.

Video and images obtained by CNN showed multiple explosions in the Rafah area of southern Gaza on Monday night.

Local social media accounts reported the explosions were to the east of Rafah, an area where the Israel Defense Forces had ordered an evacuation of civilians earlier Monday.

The United States is closely monitoring reports of the explosions and has “real concerns” about the situation that is unfolding, but does not believe this is the beginning of a major Israel military operation into southern Gaza, US officials told CNN. 

The Biden administration remains opposed to Israel going into Rafah, as White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters repeatedly on Monday. And while the current situation is concerning, these US officials stressed that for now, they believe the reports of strikes in Rafah are limited in scope. 

Indirect ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas will continue on Tuesday, with a Qatari delegation heading to Cairo, according to the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Spokesperson Dr. Majed bin Mohammed Al-Ansari said in a statement early Tuesday that the continued negotiations come after Hamas sent a response about a possible proposal, which “can be described as positive.”

Al-Ansari expressed Qatar’s “hope that the talks will culminate in reaching an agreement for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the exchange of prisoners and detainees, and the sustainable flow of humanitarian aid into all areas of the Strip.”

There have been international calls for an agreement to be reached on a ceasefire and hostage release deal. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday called on the Israeli government and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire deal after Hamas said it accepted a deal proposed by Egypt and Qatar.

The Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi also expressed his hope for a deal to be met on X.

Some context: Hamas has said it responded to a deal proposed by Egypt and Qatar, but a senior Israeli and a US official said Hamas’ response was to a different proposal than one Israel helped craft.

Israel said the proposal Hamas accepted was far from the “necessary requirements,” while Hamas has said it would not back down from its demands in the proposal it agreed to.

Israeli forces will take over the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing in the next few hours, according to CNN political and global affairs analyst Barak Ravid, citing two sources with direct knowledge.

Earlier, the Israeli military called on Palestinians living in parts of eastern Rafah to “evacuate immediately.”

More than 1 million Palestinians have fled to the southern city during seven months of war.

Israel’s demand for Palestinians to relocate from Rafah in southern Gaza is inhumane and a violation of international law, United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk said in a statement Monday.

“Gazans continue to be hit with bombs, disease, and even famine. And today, they have been told that they must relocate yet again as Israeli military operations into Rafah scale up. This is inhumane. It runs contrary to the basic principles of international humanitarian and human rights laws, which have the effective protection of civilians as their overriding concern,” Türk said.

Türk criticized Israel for “forcibly relocating” hundreds of thousands of people to areas already heavily destroyed and where there is little shelter and virtually no access to humanitarian assistance necessary for their survival.” There is nowhere safe outside of Rafah, he said.

Those who don’t comply with international human rights laws must be held accountable, he added.