Live blog update| Israel's war on Gaza
This is an entry from: Gaza live: Biden moves ahead with military aid for Israel as it launches ground assaults on Rafah

Closing summary

12 May 2024 23:20 BST

Good evening, Middle East Eye readers.

Our live coverage of Israel's assault on Gaza will shortly be closing for the evening.

Here are the day's key developments:

At least 35,034 Palestinian people have been killed and 78,755 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement.

Al Jazeera reported that the bodies of at least 45 Palestinians had arrived at al-Aqsa hospital amid the ongoing bombardment of Deir al-Balah and other areas in central Gaza.

Israeli forces have pushed deeper into Rafah, the southern Gaza city which used to be a refuge for Palestinians fleeing Israeli bombardments. Many thousands left on Sunday, bringing the total number of Palestinians who have fled following evacuation orders from Israel to about 300,000.

The UN agency for Palestinians, Unrwa, has condemned the displacement of Palestinians from Rafah as "inhumane", and emphasised that the displaced people had "nowhere safe to go".

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday defended a decision to pause a delivery to Israel of 3,500 bombs over concerns they could be used in the Gaza city of Rafah, saying Israel lacked a "credible plan" to protect some 1.4 million civilians sheltering there.

Other major developments include:

  • UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said on Sunday that he disagreed with comments made by US President Joe Biden that suggested imposing some restrictions on weapon exports if Israel attacked the city in southern Gaza.
  • Egypt says it will intervene to support South Africa's genocide case against Israel before the International Court of Justice, Egypt's foreign affairs ministry announced on Sunday.
  • The UN high commissioner for human rights has said that that a full Israeli assault on Rafah in south Gaza cannot "be reconciled with international law".
  • German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that an expansion of the Israeli offensive in Rafah would be "irresponsible".
  • Defence for Children International (DCI) says it has heard testimonies of three children who described how they were used as human shields by Israeli forces in the West Bank during a recent assault on Tulkarm refugee camp on 5 May.