Israel’s war on Gaza live: Calls for Israel to open border crossings grow

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8 May, 2024

MSF chief says Israeli operation threatens to ‘turn Rafah into a graveyard’
Israel’s military onslaught against Rafah, where “more than 1.5 million civilians are crowded into a narrow sliver of land”, risks turning the former refuge for civilians “into a graveyard”, said Avril Benoit, the executive director of Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF.
Benoit said in a post on social media that “a further military escalation in Rafah would be a direct attack on a trapped population”, and Israel must immediately halt its plans.
A military escalation in Rafah “would crush an already fragile humanitarian response at a time when health and humanitarian needs are soaring”, Benoit said.
“For seven months, we have witnessed the indiscriminate killing of civilians, attacks on aid workers – including our own staff – the destruction of medical facilities, and the obstruction of lifesaving assistance,” the MSF chief said in a statement.
“We cannot imagine what a further escalation of this conflict would mean for people who have already suffered so much in this war without rules”.
2h ago
(04:15 GMT)
Editor’s Choice: What to read and watch right now
We’ve published several new pieces covering various aspects of the conflict over the past day.
Here are a few highlights:
From Gaza: This is where Israel’s army has told people in Rafah to go
Listen: As Gaza ceasefire negotiations heat up, Rafah’s invasion looms
Watch: US rapper Macklemore releases track about college protests over Gaza
In pictures: Israel, students and the battle to divest
And there’s plenty more here.
2h ago
(04:00 GMT)
No damage or injuries as Houthis launch drones, antiship ballistic missile: US
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Houthi forces in Yemen launched three “uncrewed aerial systems” and an antiship ballistic missile at vessels in the Gulf of Aden late on Monday night and early Tuesday morning.
Two of the aerial drones were “engaged” and destroyed by US and coalition warships operating in the Red Sea and the third drone crashed in the Gulf of Aden on Monday, CENTCOM said. No damage or injuries were reported, the US command said.
Later, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, an antiship missile was launched by Houthis forces, which also caused no damage or injuries, according to CENTCOM.
“These weapons presented an imminent threat to both coalition forces and merchant vessels in the region,” CENTCOM added.
Incensed by Israel’s war on Gaza, Houthi forces have declared war on all vessels linked to Israeli firms or seaports, and say their campaign will end when Israel ends its war on Gaza.

MSF chief says Israeli operation threatens to ‘turn Rafah into a graveyard’
Israel’s military onslaught against Rafah, where “more than 1.5 million civilians are crowded into a narrow sliver of land”, risks turning the former refuge for civilians “into a graveyard”, said Avril Benoit, the executive director of Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF.
Benoit said in a post on social media that “a further military escalation in Rafah would be a direct attack on a trapped population”, and Israel must immediately halt its plans.
A military escalation in Rafah “would crush an already fragile humanitarian response at a time when health and humanitarian needs are soaring”, Benoit said.
“For seven months, we have witnessed the indiscriminate killing of civilians, attacks on aid workers – including our own staff – the destruction of medical facilities, and the obstruction of lifesaving assistance,” the MSF chief said in a statement.
“We cannot imagine what a further escalation of this conflict would mean for people who have already suffered so much in this war without rules”.
2h ago
(04:15 GMT)
Editor’s Choice: What to read and watch right now
We’ve published several new pieces covering various aspects of the conflict over the past day.
Here are a few highlights:
From Gaza: This is where Israel’s army has told people in Rafah to go
Listen: As Gaza ceasefire negotiations heat up, Rafah’s invasion looms
Watch: US rapper Macklemore releases track about college protests over Gaza
In pictures: Israel, students and the battle to divest
And there’s plenty more here.
2h ago
(04:00 GMT)
No damage or injuries as Houthis launch drones, antiship ballistic missile: US
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Houthi forces in Yemen launched three “uncrewed aerial systems” and an antiship ballistic missile at vessels in the Gulf of Aden late on Monday night and early Tuesday morning.
Two of the aerial drones were “engaged” and destroyed by US and coalition warships operating in the Red Sea and the third drone crashed in the Gulf of Aden on Monday, CENTCOM said. No damage or injuries were reported, the US command said.
Later, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, an antiship missile was launched by Houthis forces, which also caused no damage or injuries, according to CENTCOM.
“These weapons presented an imminent threat to both coalition forces and merchant vessels in the region,” CENTCOM added.
Incensed by Israel’s war on Gaza, Houthi forces have declared war on all vessels linked to Israeli firms or seaports, and say their campaign will end when Israel ends its war on Gaza.

A full-scale invasion of Rafah by Israeli forces would be “a strategic mistake, a political calamity, and a humanitarian nightmare”, UN secretary-general warns.
Israel’s seizure and closure of the Rafah crossing in Gaza raises concerns that already-scarce food and medical supplies will be further depleted and lead to a “catastrophic” humanitarian disaster.

33 UpdatesAuto updates

7m ago
(06:40 GMT)
LISTEN: With no universities left in Gaza, student protests bring hope
The sound of student protests has echoed worldwide.
Students protesting around the world have resonated with Palestinians amid the destruction of nearly all universities in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian university presidents have signed an open letter saying the international protests serve as a “beacon of hope”.
The Take looks at what has been lost to the Israeli attacks on Gaza’s universities and what remains.
What to know about the Cairo ceasefire talks
CIA director William Burns is set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today, as the US attempts to revive hope around securing a ceasefire in Gaza as delegations from Israel, Hamas, the US, Qatar and Egypt meet in Cairo to resume talks.
Here’s what to know:
On Monday, Hamas accepted an Egypt- and Qatar-brokered three-phase ceasefire proposal that would see an end to Israel’s war on Gaza as well as the release of Israeli captives held in the enclave and Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
Optimism that an agreement may be close was short-lived, however, as Israel said the proposal agreed by Hamas did not meet its “basic demands”.
While Israel said it would engage in further negotiations in Cairo, its army launched military operations against the city of Rafah in southern Gaza and seized the vital Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt.
Netanyahu said Hamas’s proposal was not acceptable in its current form and labelled it a failed attempt to “torpedo” Israel’s military incursion into Rafah.
On Tuesday, Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan said the “ball is now in Netanyahu’s court” and called on the US to pressure Israel to make a deal.
An anonymous Hamas official has told AFP that the talks in Cairo may be Israel’s “last chance to recover the Israeli captives alive”.
One killed in Israeli artillery attack near Khan Younis
Israeli artillery shelling has hit the town of Khuza’a, 8km (5 miles) east of Khan Younis, killing one person and injuring others, our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting.
Earlier, an Israeli air raid also hit the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.
The attacks come as thousands of Palestinians move towards areas of central Gaza and Khan Younis governorate from Rafah, where the Israeli military has launched a limited incursion.
Students occupy the street in front of the Sciences Po university building in Paris [Johanna Geron/Reuters]
Demonstrators hold signs as they protest next to a pro-Palestinian encampment at California State University in Los Angeles [Etienne Laurent/AFP]
A demonstrator at California State University [Etienne Laurent/AFP]
Members of the group People in Solidarity with Palestinians hold signs during a rally outside the Israeli embassy in Seoul, South Korea [Jeon Heon-Kyun/EPA-EFE]
42m ago
(06:05 GMT)
Israeli forces arrest seven people in Hebron
Israeli forces have arrested seven people in the town of Hebron, adding to a string of overnight arrests across the occupied West Bank.
The Hebron arrests took place as Israeli forces searched homes, set up new military checkpoints, and closed roads throughout the governorate.
Earlier, we reported that Israeli forces arrested six people in Bethlehem, two people near Nablus, and one person near the Nur Shams refugee camp, where clashes broke out with Palestinian resistance fighters.
Israelis raid the Nur Shams refugee camp, in Tulkarem, in the occupied West Bank, on April 20, 2024 [Raneen Sawafta/Reuters]
53m ago
(05:55 GMT)
Israeli protesters block busy highway in Tel Aviv
Family members of captives along with protesters calling for a ceasefire deal with Hamas that will secure the release of all the remaining people held in Gaza have blocked an interchange on Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv, according to Israeli media reports.
The protesters are carrying a banner reading “Save who can still [be saved]”.
1h ago
(05:45 GMT)
WATCH: UN, aid urgencies urge Israel to halt Rafah assault after crossing seized
Senior UN officials have warned that critical fuel supplies needed to power drinking water pumps, maintain communications and deliver humanitarian aid within Gaza are set to run out today.
The situation is especially perilous in northern Gaza, where drinking water facilities will imminently shut down due to fuel shortages.
While Israel has seized the Rafah crossing in the south, interrupting vital aid flows, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that there needs to be a “massive surge in life-saving aid” to the besieged and bombarded territory.
Watch Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey report from UN headquarters in New York:
US plays down Rafah assault, says it will push for Gaza ceasefire deal
The US has played down Israel’s assault on Rafah, claiming that the operation – which saw tanks take over the Rafah border crossing with Egypt and effectively seal the Palestinian territory off from the outside world – appears to be “limited”.
Dozens of people were killed on the first day of Israel’s Rafah operation, while some 100,000 residents in eastern parts of the city have been ordered to evacuate.
The UN, the EU and humanitarian aid groups have warned of a “catastrophe” if the military operation escalates.
Read the full report here.
Palestinians wait to leave Rafah after Israeli forces launched a ground and air operation in the eastern part of the city on May 7, 2024 [Hatem Khaled/Reuters]
Israeli Air Force carries out wave of attacks on southern Lebanon
Israel’s military said jet fighters attacked sites in several areas of southern Lebanon overnight in what it said were operations against “military buildings” and “terrorist infrastructure” of the Hezbollah movement.
Accompanied by grainy, aerial footage of night-time bombing runs and missile attacks, Israel’s military said the sites attacked were located in South Lebanon’s Kfar Kila, Aita al-Shaab, Khiam, Maroun al-Ras, Hula and Aitaroun areas.
Israeli ground forces also attacked the Tayr Harfa area and al-Jabin, the military said.
Actor Mark Ruffalo says people in Gaza face dire choice: ‘Die in the desert or in your home’
The outspoken Hollywood actor has said that “help is desperately needed” for children in Gaza where the population of Rafah is now being forced to move “to what are essentially internment camps of human neglect and suffering”.
In a post on social media, Ruffalo – who has long faced criticism for his support of the Palestinian cause – said people in Gaza have essentially been given a choice: “Die in the desert or in your home”.
The actor posted his comments alongside a statement from the UN’s children fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday, which points out that more than half of all the children in the Gaza Strip are now living in Rafah, and called on Israeli forces to not launch their offensive against the city that was the last refuge for civilians fleeing the war.
1h ago
(05:00 GMT)
If you’re just joining us
Here’s a look at some of the latest key developments:
The Israeli military has bombed an apartment complex in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City, killing a family of seven, including five children, Wafa reports.
Fuel supplies needed to power water pumps, maintain communications and deliver humanitarian aid within Gaza will run out today, a senior UN official said after Israel’s closure of the two key border crossings.
The US paused sending a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that it would launch a full-scale assault on Rafah, the AP reports.
CIA chief William Burns is set to meet Netanyahu today as Israel forges ahead with military operations in Rafah and truce talks resume in Cairo.
The Bahamas has formally recognised Palestine as a state, joining a growing number of countries doing so in recent weeks.
Smoke rises after an Israeli attack amid a ground and air operation in eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on May 7, 2024 [Hatem Khaled/Reuters]
2h ago
(04:45 GMT)
Israeli military arrests six people in Bethlehem
The Israeli military has arrested six people in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports.
Violent clashes have also broken out between Palestinian resistance fighters and Israeli forces in the Nur Shams refugee camp, east of the city of Tulkarem, after Israeli troops raided the area and arrested a Palestinian man.
Two Palestinians have also been arrested in the village of Asira al-Qibliya, south of Nablus, Wafa reports.
Israeli raids have been reported in the Shu’fat refugee camp, north of occupied Jerusalem, and the town of Tuqu, southeast of Bethlehem.
An Israeli soldier aims his weapon in a street at the Jenin refugee camp during a raid by the Israeli forces, near the West Bank city of Jenin, in March 2024 [Alaa Badarneh/EPA]
MSF chief says Israeli operation threatens to ‘turn Rafah into a graveyard’
Israel’s military onslaught against Rafah, where “more than 1.5 million civilians are crowded into a narrow sliver of land”, risks turning the former refuge for civilians “into a graveyard”, said Avril Benoit, the executive director of Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF.
Benoit said in a post on social media that “a further military escalation in Rafah would be a direct attack on a trapped population”, and Israel must immediately halt its plans.
A military escalation in Rafah “would crush an already fragile humanitarian response at a time when health and humanitarian needs are soaring”, Benoit said.
“For seven months, we have witnessed the indiscriminate killing of civilians, attacks on aid workers – including our own staff – the destruction of medical facilities, and the obstruction of lifesaving assistance,” the MSF chief said in a statement.
“We cannot imagine what a further escalation of this conflict would mean for people who have already suffered so much in this war without rules”.
2h ago
(04:15 GMT)
Editor’s Choice: What to read and watch right now
We’ve published several new pieces covering various aspects of the conflict over the past day.
Here are a few highlights:
From Gaza: This is where Israel’s army has told people in Rafah to go
Listen: As Gaza ceasefire negotiations heat up, Rafah’s invasion looms
Watch: US rapper Macklemore releases track about college protests over Gaza
In pictures: Israel, students and the battle to divest
And there’s plenty more here.
2h ago
(04:00 GMT)
No damage or injuries as Houthis launch drones, antiship ballistic missile: US
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Houthi forces in Yemen launched three “uncrewed aerial systems” and an antiship ballistic missile at vessels in the Gulf of Aden late on Monday night and early Tuesday morning.
Two of the aerial drones were “engaged” and destroyed by US and coalition warships operating in the Red Sea and the third drone crashed in the Gulf of Aden on Monday, CENTCOM said. No damage or injuries were reported, the US command said.
Later, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, an antiship missile was launched by Houthis forces, which also caused no damage or injuries, according to CENTCOM.
“These weapons presented an imminent threat to both coalition forces and merchant vessels in the region,” CENTCOM added.
Incensed by Israel’s war on Gaza, Houthi forces have declared war on all vessels linked to Israeli firms or seaports, and say their campaign will end when Israel ends its war on Gaza.