Gaza live: Biden moves ahead with military aid for Israel as it launches ground assaults on Rafah

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said his government is “deeply concerned” about an Israeli assault on Rafah “given the number of civilians sheltering there”.

Speaking to Sky News, Sunak said that his government has been consistent, opposing a Rafah attack.

“The priority now must be for all parties, especially Hamas, to agree to an agreement to release the hostages and allow more aid in as part of a temporary truce that allows us to build a sustainable ceasefire, as this is the best way to end the conflict,” he said.

US President Joe Biden held a phone call with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu as Israel signals it is pressing ahead with an invasion of Rafah.

Axios reported that Biden asked Netanyahu to reopen the Kerem Shalom border crossing after it was closed Sunday following a deadly attack on the crossing by Hamas’s armed wing that killed four Israeli soldiers.

The Palestinian Red Crescent (PRC) said thousands of people were fleeing eastern Rafah in expectation of an Israeli onslaught on the southern Gaza border town.

The group said thousands of Palestinian civilians were evacuating after the Israeli military notified several areas in the east of Rafah to evacuate in preparation for a military attack.

A video posted by the PRC showed cars loaded with mattresses and household effects slowly driving along the road.

The PRC also said Israel had escalated its airstrikes on the area in advance of a ground attack, warning of a “humanitarian catastrophe.”

A panel of UN experts has condemned violence against women and children perpetrated by the Israeli military.

“We are appalled that women are being targeted by Israel with such vicious, indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, seemingly sparing no means to destroy their lives and deny them their fundamental human rights,” said an independent panel of experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council.

The experts slammed reports of sexual assault and violence against women and girls, including against those detained by Israeli occupation forces. They added that women and girls in Gaza have faced enforced disappearances.

They also condemned the “appalling” treatment of pregnant women as a result of the Israeli bombardment of hospitals. They noted that Israeli forces had also destroyed Gaza’s largest fertility clinic, reported to have been storing 3,000 embryos.

The report was drafted by special rapporteurs, who are assigned by he UN Human Rights Council, but whose statements are not official UN positions.

Egypt’s military intelligence has held meetings with Sinai tribes in recent weeks to discuss their potential role in the event of an Israeli invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, a report by Middle East Eye on Monday reveals.

At the meetings, Egyptian intelligence officers said they estimated a Palestinian influx of between 50,000 and 250,000 people towards Sinai if Israel carries out a ground operation in the Palestinian Rafah.

The meetings were held prior to the controversial creation of an alliance of tribal groups at the Egyptian side of Rafah, led by the influential pro-government businessman and militia leader Ibrahim al-Organi. 

The Arab Tribes Union (ATU), an alliance of five Egyptian Bedouin tribes, was announced at a large celebration on 1 May with the stated goal of integrating tribal entities into a single framework to support the Egyptian state against security threats. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was declared its “honorary president”.

According to three Sinai tribal sources and one Egyptian security source, in the weeks leading up to the event, a number of meetings were held in North Sinai between senior members of Bedouin tribes, officers from the Secret Service apparatus in the military intelligence (known internally as Group 55), and others from the Second Field Army. 

According to three people who attended these meetings, the army and intelligence officers emphasised the necessity of assisting the armed forces and security agencies in “monitoring any infiltration of Palestinians” towards the villages and centres of North Sinai should this displacement occur, and warned against harbouring any of them and immediately reporting any movement of unfamiliar individuals in the areas close to the border.

Read more: Rafah invasion: Egyptian army turns to Sinai tribes to prepare for influx of Palestinians

Egypt has warned Israel against launching a military operation in Rafah, saying that it would carry "grave humanitarian risks".

"Egypt warns of the dangers of a possible Israeli military operation in the Palestinian Rafah region, south of the Gaza Strip, as this escalatory action entails grave humanitarian risks that threaten more than a million Palestinians residing in that region," the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement.

"Egypt calls on Israel to exercise the utmost restraint, avoid further escalation at this extremely sensitive time in the process of ceasefire negotiations, and spare the blood of Palestinian civilians who have been exposed to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe since the start of the war on the Gaza Strip."

The ministry said that it was continue to be in contact with "all parties in order to prevent the situation from getting worse or getting out of control".

Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign policy chief, has hit out at the evacuation order issued by Israel's military to civilians in eastern Rafah and at the prospect of a ground offensive on the Gaza city.

"Israel's evacuation orders to civilians in Rafah portend the worst: more war and famine. It is unacceptable," Borrell posted on social media. 

"Israel must renounce to a ground offensive and implement UNSCR 2728," the Spanish politician wrote. Adopted on 25 March, the UN Security Council resolution calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during Ramadan leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire.

"The EU, with the International Community, can and must act to prevent such scenario," Borrell said, referring to an Israeli ground offensive on Rafah.

At least 34,735 Palestinians have been killed in its seven-month war on Gaza, according to the Health Ministry in the besieged Strip. 

More than 78,108 people have been wounded in the Israeli assault on Gaza since October 7, the ministry said in a statement on Monday.

In a statement Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), warned that the Israeli offensive "could lead to the deadliest phase of this conflict, inflicting horrific suffering on approximately 1.4 million displaced civilians in the area".

“The relocation orders issued by Israel today to thousands of Gazans, directing them to move to Al-Mawasi, are beyond alarming. The area is already overstretched and devoid of vital services.

"It lacks the capacity to house the number of people currently seeking refuge in Rafah, with no assurances of safety, proper accommodation or return once hostilities end for those forced to relocate," the statement said. 

"The absence of these fundamental guarantees of safety and return, as required by international humanitarian law, qualifies Israel's relocation directives as forcible transfer, amounting to a serious violation of international law," added Egeland. 

Since its establishment in 2002, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has struggled to find a path to legitimacy. 

Its creation was a triumph for the Global South in extending the potential reach of international criminal law, although it was limited from the outset by its existence outside the formal UN framework, and by the failure of the geopolitical “big three” (the US, China and Russia) to join. In relation to present concerns, it is also limited by Israel’s refusal to sign up to the court. 

Despite its wide representation, including 124 member states, the ICC has struggled for recognition, influence and legitimacy. 

In its early years, it was blamed for focusing its activities on the alleged wrongdoings of African leaders, suggesting a racialist bias. 

Later on, in relation to the alleged crimes of the US in Afghanistan and Israel in occupied Palestine, the ICC sat on files containing abundant evidence justifying, at the very least, diligent investigations to determine whether indictments and prosecution were legally warranted.

Read more: The ICC must seize this moment to hold Israel accountable

The German foreign office has criticised the Israeli authorities for shutting down Al Jazeera in Israel. In a post on X Germany reminded Israel that “a free and diverse press landscape is the cornerstone of every liberal democracy”.

Palestinian doctors in Gaza's southern city of Rafah say at 26 people were killed over the last 24 hours in a series of Isaeli strikes on 11 buildings and houses in the area.

According to the reports, among the dead are 11 children and eight women.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on Sunday, according to the French embassy in Israel.

In a statement, Macron reiterated his "firm objection" to an Israeli assault on Gaza's southernmost district.

The Israeli military heavily bombed Rafah early on Monday before ordering some residents to leave parts of the border town ahead of a planned ground assault. 

At least 22 Palestinians, including eight children, were killed in air strikes that hit 11 homes across Rafah, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. 

The Israeli military also dropped flyers ordering residents to leave the eastern areas of the city near the fence that separates the Gaza Strip and Israel. 

It said the military was “about to operate with force against the terror organisations in the area”. 

It also warned residents from approaching the fence with Israel and the border with Egypt.

Read more: Israel army pounds Rafah as it orders some residents out