Late night update

Dear MEE readers, 

The head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said Saturday that 800,000 people had been "forced to flee" Gaza's far-southern city of Rafah since Israel intensified bombing there this month.

"Nearly half of the population of Rafah or 800,000 people are on the road having been forced to flee since the Israeli forces started the military operation in the area on 6 May", Unrwa chief Philippe Lazzarini said in a lengthy post on social media site X.

"The claim that people in Gaza can move to 'safe' or 'humanitarian' zones is false. Each time, it puts the lives of civilians at serious risk. Gaza does not have any safe zones. No place is safe. No one is safe," he said. 

Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz, meanwhile, criticised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of the war in Gaza, demanding during a televised speech that the premier commit to an agreed vision for the end of the war that would include stipulating who might rule the territory after. 

Other updates from Saturday include:

• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres underscored the need for a two-state solution with "Israel and Palestine living side-by-side in peace and security", while calling the war on Gaza "an open wound that threatens to infect the entire region".

• The Israeli army says troops retrieved the body of Ron Benjamin, who was captured during the 7 October offensive by Hamas. Benjamin and the other three captives that were recently recovered were all killed on the day they were taken, according to the Israeli military. 

• Two top Biden administration officials held indirect talks with Iranian counterparts this week in an effort to avoid escalating regional attacks, according to an Axios report.

• Israeli police have responded with water cannons against anti-government protesters in Tel Aviv.