Israel-Palestine live: Israel bombs Unrwa building in Gaza

Good morning Middle East Eye, 

It is now just after 11:30am in Gaza. Here are the key developments from the past few hours of Israel's relentless assault on the besieged enclave: 

• Amid mounting international warnings against a planned Israeli offensive in Rafah, fighter jets have been intensifying their air strikes on the border town. 

• Israeli attacks in Rafah killed at least 58 Palestinians on Sunday morning, the health ministry said. 

• At least three patients died in the al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis due to Israeli blockade preventing the entry of oxygen, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

• Palestinians in northern Gaza can't even find animal food to eat as the humanitarian situation is "beyond the catastrophic", officials have warned. 

It is now just after 01:30 in Gaza and Middle East Eye’s live coverage of Israel's relentless assault on the besieged enclave will shortly be closing for the evening.

Here are the day's key developments:

The Palestinian health ministry on Saturday said the death toll in Gaza had risen to 28,064, with 67,611 injured since 7 October. 

Health officials added that Israeli strikes had killed 117 Palestinians and injured 152 others in the past 24 hours across the Gaza Strip. 

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Israeli forces had fired on people inside the Nasser Medical facility in Khan Younis, with concerns that medical staff were unable to move inside the hospital due to fears of getting shot. "For the last 20 days the hospital had been under siege. Footage posted online showed that Israeli forces had fired upon trying to leave the facility," said MSF. 

Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl who was trapped 12 days ago in a car under Israeli fire and called rescuers for help, was found dead on Saturday. 

Two PRCS medics, Yousef Zeino and Ahmed al Madhoun, who were sent to rescue Rajab, were also found dead after their ambulance was bombed. 

Meanwhile, a Palestinian security source has told AFP that a senior Hamas official had survived an Israeli assassination attempt in Lebanon on Saturday. An official with the Lebanese Risala Scout association, which operates rescue teams and is affiliated with the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement, told AFP that two civilians had been killed.

An Egyptian official said that under no circumstances would fleeing Palestinians be allowed to cross the border into the Sinai peninsula, and any attempt to relocate them to Egyptian soil would collapse the peace deal between Egypt and Israel.

Other news included:

• Israel’s plans for a military offensive on Rafah in the Gaza Strip are “alarming”, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borell, has said.
• Jordan's foreign ministry also warned Israel against carrying out an offensive on Rafah. "We warn of the danger of the occupation army carrying out a military operation in Rafah, south of Gaza, which is home to a large number of displaced people," the statement by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said.
• German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock joined the calls against Israel's planned assault. "The need in Rafah is already unbelievable - 1.3 million people are seeking protection from the fighting in a very small space," Baerbock said on X (formerly Twitter). 
• “Israel’s declared ground offensive on Rafah would be catastrophic and must not proceed,” Doctors Without Borders said in a statement. “There is no place that is safe in Gaza and no way for people to leave.”
• The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) said a food shipment for 1.1 million Palestinians is stuck in an Israeli port due to restrictions from Israeli authorities as thousands of Palestinians face imminent hunger. 
• A total of 17 Houthi fighters were killed in US strikes, the Iran-backed Yemeni rebel group said through its official media on Saturday, following public funerals in the capital Sanaa.

Iran's top diplomat warned on Saturday that a full-blown attack on Lebanon would "spell the end" of Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu during a Beirut trip, as cross-border tensions surge over the Gaza war.

Israeli forces and Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah group, a Hamas ally, have traded near-daily fire following the outbreak of war on 7 October between Israel and the Palestinian militant group in the Gaza Strip.

"Any move by the Zionist regime (Israel) for a large-scale attack on Lebanon will spell the end of Netanyahu," Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told reporters in Beirut.

"Our assessment is that the Zionist regime will never be able to fight on two fronts," he added. "Netanyahu is struggling to get out of the Gaza quagmire."

A total of 17 Houthi fighters were killed in US strikes, the Iran-backed Yemeni rebel group said through its official media on Saturday, following public funerals in the capital Sanaa.

"The bodies of a number of martyrs of the nation and the armed and security forces who were martyred as a result of the bombing of the American-British aggression were carried through Sanaa today in a solemn funeral procession," Houthi official media said, listing their names.

The United States confirmed on Thursday that its military had conducted a number of strikes against missile launchers as Houthi fighters prepared to launch them against commercial shipping and US warships in the Red Sea.

The Iran-backed rebels, who control much of war-torn Yemen including the port of Hodeida, have been targeting shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in a campaign they say is in support of Palestinians in Gaza, which has been ravaged by the Israel-Hamas war.

A Palestinian security source has told AFP that a senior Hamas official had survived an Israeli assassination attempt in Lebanon on Saturday. 

An official with the Lebanese Risala Scout association, which operates rescue teams and is affiliated with the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement, told AFP that two civilians had been killed.

The official identified them as a vegetable vendor and a Syrian man on a motorbike who both happened to be nearby.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) said a food shipment for 1.1 million Palestinians is stuck in an Israeli port due to restrictions from Israeli authorities as thousands of Palestinians face imminent hunger. 

Unrwa's director Philippe Lazarini told the Associated Press that a convoy of food donated by Turkey had been sitting for weeks in the Israeli port cit of Ashdod. 

Lazarini said Israeli contractors who work with Unrwa received a call from Israeli custom authorities and ordered "them not to process any Unrwa goods".

The aid agency for Palestinians later released an update that "1,049 containers of rice, flour, chickpeas, sugar and cooking oil are stuck as families in Gaza face hunger and starvation".

Lazarini's concerns come after the World Food Programme warned on Friday that Gaza could be plunged into famine in a few months. 

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock joined growing calls against Israel's planned assault on Rafah city in Gaza. 

"The need in Rafah is already unbelievable - 1.3 million people are seeking protection from the fighting in a very small space," Baerbock said on X (formerly Twitter). 

"An offensive by the Israeli army on Rafah would be humanitarian catastrophe. The people of Gaza cannot disappear into thin air."

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Israeli forces had fired on people inside the Nasser Medical facility in Khan Younis, with concerns that medical staff are unable to move inside the hospital due to fears of getting shot. 

"For the last 20 days the hospital had been under siege. Footage posted online showed that Israeli forces had fired upon trying to leave the facility," said MSF. 

"Two people were killed, five others injured, including one nurse who was severely wounded. Medical staff are afraid to move within and around the hospital due to fear of being shot.

"Israeli forces are continuing operations in the immediate vicinity of Nasser hospital. Heavy fighting is trapping people inside the building and preventing anyone from entering to access care."

The Palestinian health ministry on Saturday said the death toll in Gaza had surpassed 28,000 people after another night of deadly Israeli strikes. 

The Ministry said the death toll in Gaza had risen to 28,064, with 67,611 injured since 7 October. 

Health officials added that Israeli strikes had killed 117 Palestinians and injured 152 others in the past 24 hours across the Gaza Strip. 

Jordan's foreign ministry has warned Israel against carrying out an offensive on Rafah city in Gaza. 

"We warn of the danger of the occupation army carrying out a military operation in Rafah, south of Gaza, which is home to a large number of displaced people," the statement by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said.

"We reject the displacement of Palestinians inside or outside their territories and stress the need to end the war on the Gaza Strip."

Jordan joined other Arab nations on Saturday that also called on Israel not to carry out an offensive on Rafah. 

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians besieged in the northern Gaza Strip are struggling to get water and food.

An MEE correspondent in the al-Sahaba neighbourhood, one of the densely populated areas north of Gaza City, reported that a group of people were attempting to get water from a pipe that was previously destroyed in an Israeli air strike, as the desperation for any source of water grows.

Hundreds of Palestinians contemplate their next steps after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the army to prepare for an assault on Rafah.

Half of Gaza's population, many displaced multiple times, are now sheltering in Rafah after Israel forced them to the border with Egypt.

Middle East Eye's Maha Husseini is among the displaced and spoke to Palestinians in Rafah as they contemplate their next steps as they face further displacement.

Husseini spoke to Saleh Razaina, who has taken shelter in the Philadelphia Corridor, a 14km stretch of land along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

Razaina, displaced for the sixth time since the beginning of Israel's attack on 7 October, said he and his family "have been drained physically and mentally" trying to find a safe place to stay.

"I came from Jabalia [in the northern Gaza Strip] and have sought refuge in different places from the north to the south, in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis, and now we are here in Rafah. A few days after we arrived, Israel started threatening to attack Rafah," the 42-year-old father of four told Middle East Eye.

READ MORE: Palestinians in Rafah run out of shelters as Israel threatens assault

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry has warned Israel against attacking the Rafah area in Gaza, calling for an urgent United Nations Security Council meeting to stop Israel's imminent attack.

In a statement on Saturday, Riyadh warned of the "dangerous repercussions" of Israel storming the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip and reiterated calls for an urgent security council meeting to discuss an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. 

"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia warns of the extremely dangerous repercussions of storming and targeting the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, which is the last safe place for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians forced to flee their homes by the barbaric Israeli aggression," said the Foreign Ministry statement. 

"The continued violation of international law confirms the necessity of convening the Security Council to prevent Israel from causing a disaster." 

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) released a photo of the destroyed ambulance sent to rescue Hind Rajab nearly two weeks ago. 

Yousef Zeino and Ahmed al Madhoun, two paramedics dispatched to rescue Rajab, were found dead metres away from where the five-year-old was also found dead. 

PRCS accused Israeli forces of deliberately bombing the ambulance "upon its arrival at the scene" despite prior coordination to facilitate the rescue mission. 

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

It is just after 11am in Palestine and Israel. Here are the latest updates from the Israeli war on Gaza:

• Israeli forces have killed at least one Palestinian as they opened fire at people trapped inside the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, which has been under siege for more than two weeks. 

• Israeli bulldozers and tanks are getting closer to the hospital's northern gate, putting the lives of 10,000 people at risk, including patients, doctors and displaced families, according to health officials. 

• Elsewhere in Khan Younis, Israeli forces raided the al-Amal hospital, which is run by the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS). Troops damaged equipment, detained, interrogated, beat, and humiliated staff, according to the PRCS.

• Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl who was trapped 12 days ago in a car under Israeli fire and called rescuers for help, has been found dead. 

• Two PRCS medics, Yousef Zeino and Ahmed al Madhoun, who were sent to rescue Rajab, were also found dead after their ambulance was bombed.