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ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Live: Some 300,000 Gazans have fled east Rafah since Monday, Israel says
The Israeli military said on Saturday about 300,000 people have left eastern Rafah for the Al-Mawasi humanitarian area since it ordered an evacuation of the southern Gaza city on Monday. The military has ordered Palestinians to leave more areas of eastern Rafah and the northern Gaza Strip as it pressed ahead with its fight against Hamas militants. Read our liveblog to follow all the latest developments in the Israel-Hamas war.

Issued on: 11/05/2024 – 09:05
Modified: 11/05/2024 – 09:14

2 min
Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Thursday, May 9, 2024.
Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Thursday, May 9, 2024. © Abdel Kareem Hana, AP
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FRANCE 24
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FRANCE 24
Summary:
Israel called on residents from more areas of Rafah in the Gaza Strip to evacuate and head to the “expanded humanitarian area” in Al-Mawasi, according to a post on social media site X by the military’s Arabic-language spokesperson.
The US State Department said in a report released Friday that it was “reasonable to assess” that Israel has used weapons in ways inconsistent with international humanitarian law during the seven-month-long Gaza war.
At least 34,971 Palestinians have been killed and 78,641 wounded in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Some 1,170 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.
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Hamas says Israeli hostage Nadav Popplewell died of wounds sustained in Israeli air strike
Hamas’s armed wing said in a statement on Saturday that Israeli hostage Nadav Popplewell has died of wounds that he sustained in an Israeli air strike more than a month ago.

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23 minutes ago
Israel army reports more rockets at key Gaza crossing
The Israeli army said rockets were launched Saturday from Rafah in southern Gaza towards the Kerem Shalom crossing, which was temporarily shut earlier this week.

“Four launches were identified that crossed from the Rafah area,” the military said in a statement, adding that one rocket was intercepted by Israeli air defences “and the rest fell in open areas” around Kerem Shalom.

It added that “no injuries were reported”.

On Sunday, May 5, Israeli authorities temporarily closed the crossing, where most humanitarian deliveries are inspected before being allowed into Gaza, after rockets killed four troops there.

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2 hours ago
Israel orders people in more areas of Gaza’s Rafah to evacuate
Israel called on Saturday for Palestinians in more areas of Gaza’s southern city of Rafah to evacuate and head to what it calls an expanded humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi, in a further indication that the military is pressing ahead with its plans for a ground attack on Rafah.

In a post on social media site X, a military spokesperson also called on residents and displaced people in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza, and 11 other neighbourhoods in the enclave to go immediately to shelters west of Gaza City.

The Palestinian health ministry said at least 37 Palestinians, 24 of them from central Gaza areas, were killed in overnight airstrikes across the enclave, including in Rafah.

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2 hours ago
Hamas armed wing releases video of hostage held in Gaza
Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, on Saturday released a video of a man held hostage in Gaza by Palestinian militants and seen alive in the footage.

The man is seen speaking in the 11-second clip, which is superimposed with text in Arabic and Hebrew that reads: “Time is running out. Your government is lying.” The video posted on the group’s Telegram channel and showing the hostage speaking under duress was the third time footage of captives held in Gaza has been released in less than a month.

On April 27, the group released a video showing two hostages, Keith Siegel and Omri Miran, alive. Three days before that it broadcast another video showing hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin alive.

Some 250 people were abducted to the Gaza Strip on October 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel.

Israeli officials say 128 of them are still held captive in the Palestinian territory, including the bodies of 36.

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3 hours ago
Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says war death toll at 34,971
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Saturday that at least 34,971 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory during the war between Israel and Hamas militants.

The tally includes at least 28 deaths in the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 78,641 people have been wounded in Gaza since the war broke out when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7.

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4 hours ago
Israel army says about 300,000 Gazans have evacuated east Rafah
The Israeli army said Saturday about 300,000 people have left eastern Rafah for a humanitarian area since ordered an evacuation of the southern Gaza city this week.

“So far, approximately 300,000 Gazans have moved towards the humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi” since the order was issued on Monday, the military said in a statement.

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5 hours ago
Israel expands evacuation order of east Rafah and northern Gaza Strip
The Israeli military on Saturday ordered Palestinians to leave more areas of eastern Rafah and the northern Gaza Strip as it pressed ahead with its fight against Hamas militants.

The latest evacuation order, which some residents told AFP they had received via text and audio messages to their phones, comes days after Israeli tanks and troops entered Rafah, the Palestinian territory’s southernmost city, and seized a key crossing on the Egyptian border.

Residents and displaced Gazans were told to leave parts of Rafah’s Shabura refugee camp, administrative area, Jenina and Khirbet al-Adas neighbourhoods, and head to the coastal “humanitarian area” in Al-Mawasi.

Aid groups and UN officials have warned that the area was already overcrowded and not ready to receive an influx of people.

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6 hours ago
Israel strikes Gaza as US report criticises war conduct
Israeli strikes hit Gaza on Saturday after renewed US criticism over its conduct of the war and a UN warning of “epic” disaster if an outright invasion of crowded Rafah city occurs.

AFP journalists reported the strikes in various sectors of the coastal territory, where the UN says aid is blocked after Israeli troops defied international opposition and entered eastern Rafah this week, effectively shutting two crossings.

A long-awaited US State Department report on Friday said Israel likely violated norms on international law in its use of weapons from the United States — its main military supplier — but it did not find enough evidence to block shipments.

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7 hours ago
Israel orders new evacuations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah as it prepares to expand operations
Israel ordered new evacuations in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah on Saturday as it prepared to expand its operation, saying it was also moving into an area in northern Gaza where Hamas has regrouped.

Fighting is escalating across the enclave with heavy clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants on the outskirts of Rafah, leaving the crucial nearby aid crossings inaccessible and forcing more than 110,000 people to flee north.

Israel’s move into Rafah has so far been short of the full-scale invasion that it has planned.

The United Nations and other agencies have warned for weeks that an Israeli assault on Rafah, which borders Egypt near the main aid entry points, would cripple humanitarian operations and cause a disastrous surge in civilian casualties. More than 1.4 million Palestinians — half of Gaza’s population— have been sheltering in Rafah, most after fleeing Israel’s offensives elsewhere.

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Yesterday’s key developments:
The Biden administration said Friday that Israel’s use of US-provided weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law but that wartime conditions prevented US officials from determining that for certain in specific air strikes.
The UN General Assembly voted to grant new ‘rights and privileges’ to Palestine and called on the Security Council to favourably reconsider its request to become the 194th member of the United Nations.
Israeli tanks captured the main road dividing the eastern and western halves of Rafah, effectively encircling the entire eastern side of the city in the southern Gaza Strip.
UNICEF’s senior emergency coordinator in Gaza said that “more than 100,000 people have fled Rafah” as the city braces for an imminent full-scale Israeli ground assault.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said he hopes he and Biden can overcome their disagreements over the war, after Biden withheld some weapons from Israel.
Palestinian militant group Hamas said that its delegation attending ceasefire negotiations in Cairo had left the city for Qatar, adding the “ball is now completely” in Israel’s hands.
About casualty figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry:
Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent. For more on the health ministry’s casualty figures, click here.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, Reuters, AP)