TRANSCRIPT
At least 67 more Palestinians were killed by Israeli air and sea strikes in Rafah overnight, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
Over the past four months, residents of Gaza have been told repeatedly to head towards Rafah on the border with Egypt, with safety promised further south.
Now, as Israel continues its air and sea assault on Rafah, while making plans for a ground invasion, the nearly 1.4 million Palestinians sheltering in Rafah are finding themselves with nowhere left to go.
United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric says it is unsafe to send people into already destroyed areas of Gaza.
"As it is there is no place that is safe, currently safe in Gaza. There's a great challenge, I mean, vast majority people in the south. In the north and in central Gaza, where they may be less, uh, let's say kinetic activity, to put it diplomatically, there still remains a huge challenge of unexploded ordinance. You can't send people back to areas that is littered with unexploded ordnance, not to mention a lack of shelter."
Mr Dujarric says the plans for a ground invasion in Rafah are worsening the already difficult task of getting aid into Gaza.
Gaza's Rafah border crossing with Egypt serves as a critical access point for humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that evacuation plans are being made for Rafah.
The White House national security spokesman, John Kirby says the US has not seen any clear plan laid out for safe evacuations.
"We don't believe that it's advisable to go in in a major way in Rafah without a proper, executable, effective and credible plan for the safety of the more than a million Palestinians that are taking refuge in Rafah. They've left the north and they certainly went south out of Khan Younis to try to get out of the fighting. So Israel has an obligation to make sure that they can protect them.”
Meanwhile, Israeli human rights group Yesh Din has reported more assaults by settlers at a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank.
Reporting on the second attack in a matter of hours, the group posted a video of the attacks on social media, reporting that dozens of settlers attacked the village with stones, smashing windows, setting cars on fire and leaving three injured.
They say the Israeli army arrived soon after the attacks and shot at Palestinian civilians with rubber bullets and tear gas.
Today, US President Joe Biden met with Jordan's King Abdullah II in Washington to discuss the devastation in Gaza.
King Abdullah says continued attacks from extremist settlers in the West Bank puts the region at risk of further chaos.
"It is also important to stress that the separation of the West Bank and Gaza cannot be accepted. Seven decades of occupation, death and destruction have proven beyond any doubt that there can be no peace without a political horizon. Military and security solutions are not the answer. They can never bring peace. Civilians on both sides continue to pay for this protracted conflict with their lives."
US President Joe Biden also made clear his objections to the planned ground assault in Rafah; he says the United States is working tirelessly to find a solution.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, says if leaders are so concerned about civilian deaths then they need to rethink their arms provisions to Israel.
"Everybody goes to Tel Aviv, begging, please, don't do that. Protect civilians. Don't kill so many. How many is too many? Which is the standard? But Netanyahu doesn't listen (to) anyone. They are going to evacuate. Where? To the moon? Where are they going to evacuate these people? So, if the international community believes that this is a slaughter, that too many people are being killed, maybe they have to think about the provision of arms."
Mr Borrell says he finds little logic in the concerns expressed by leaders who continue showing support for Israel's offensive.
"This is a little bit contradictory, to continue saying that 'There are too many people being killed, too many people being killed, please take care of people, please don't kill so many.' Stop saying please and do something."
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan says amid ongoing investigations, the question of where the Palestinians in Rafah will go now, should be on every Israeli official's mind.
"I've made it clear that I have real concern over the reports coming out of Rafah, the possibility of further ground incursions by Israeli troops, the reported bombardments and the reality that the laws of war must be respected. They can't be rendered hollow. They can't be interpreted so as to void them of meaning or to dilute or eviscerate any protective purpose that the Geneva Conventions and the law provides the most vulnerable children, women, people that are sick or civilians."
