al jazeera

By Lyndal Rowlands and Alastair McCready
   The joint statement, cosigned by the countries’ prime ministers, said they are “gravely concerned” about potentially “catastrophic” Israeli military operations in Rafah.
   Israel “must listen to its friends and it must listen to the international community” that civilians can’t be made to “pay the price of defeating Hamas”, the leaders said.
   Dozens of trapped people flee Nasser Hospital during deadly sniper attacks after Israeli forces ordered hundreds to evacuate the hospital in Gaza’s Khan Younis.
   UN chief Antonio Guterres condemns an Israeli drone attack on two journalists in Gaza that left both men in critical condition.
   Israel’s attacks on Gaza have killed at least 28,576 Palestinians and wounded 68,291 others since October 7. The death toll in Israel from the October 7 Hamas-led attacks stands at 1,139.

    Rafah urgently needs stabilisation centre for children with ‘severe malnutrition’: UN

    The UN humanitarian agency OHCA says that there is now “an urgent need to establish a stabilisation centre in Rafah for treating children suffering from severe malnutrition” as the city experiences “rising food insecurity” and “limitations on the entry of aid”.

    On Wednesday, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed the Israeli government is still blocking flour – a vital staple food for Palestinians – from entering the Gaza Strip.

    One person killed by Israeli shelling of Nasser Hospital

    One person has died and several others have been seriously injured after the Israeli military shelled the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.

    The shelling targeted the hospital’s orthopaedic department, while Israeli forces also stormed the hospital compound and opened fire, the Wafa news agency reports. Doctors, nurses and displaced Palestinians were forced to evacuate the hospital and head to Rafah, but Israeli forces arrested dozens of people when they attempted to do so, Wafa reports.

    Earlier we reported that the Palestine Red Crescent Society had warned that the Israeli military was once again shelling in the vicinity of the hospital, which has been under siege for 25 days.

    Palestinian journalist Mohammed Salama then shared a video, verified by Al Jazeera, showing health workers trying to rescue patients from a room filled with smoke and debris inside the hospital.

    We will bring you further updates on this story when we have them.

    People leaving Rafah are heading towards Deir el-Balah and Nuseirat refugee camp: UN

    People are leaving Rafah because of air strikes, a threatened Israeli ground invasion but also because they are struggling to survive in the overcrowded city in southern Gaza, according to the latest update from the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA).

    People leaving Rafah are moving towards places including Deir el-Balah and the Nuseirat refugee camp, OCHA added.

    Earlier, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, who is in Rafah, said that air strikes in the Nuseirat refugee camp and Deir el-Balah showed that people are still in danger after leaving Rafah.

    “We need to clearly understand that these are areas where Palestinians have recently been fleeing to as they are trying to get away from a potential military incursion in Rafah, where Israeli jets continue to pound the city,” Abu Azzoum said.