A woman reacts upon finding clothing items of a killed relative among rubble of a destroyed house, following Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 3, 2024. Photo by Mohammed ABED / AFP
Doha, Qatar: Israeli forces have been intensifying attacks in Rafah amid drastic humanitarian conditions that Palestinians sheltering in the area are subjected to.
According to reports by Al Jazeera, Israeli drones and fighter jets could be heard overhead at midnight in Rafah, where two-thirds of Gaza's population has been taking refuge.
At dawn on Sunday in Rafah, a kindergarten where displaced people were sheltering was bombed by Israeli warplanes resulting in several casualties including two girls, and dozens of injuries, according to the Wafa news agency.
Palestinians taking refuge in Rafah are also undergoing medical pressure and a deep shortage of food and drinkable water, according to Al Jazeera correspondent Tareq Abu Azzoum.
Watch this page for more live updates:
[10 pm Doha Time] UNRWA to ‘do whatever possible’ to continue Gaza aid effort
“As the largest humanitarian organisation in Gaza Strip – we will do whatever possible to continue our indispensable work to support people in Gaza,” UNRWA said in a post on X.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has called for donations amid funding cuts by Western countries. "At this critical moment #DonateToUNRWA," it said.
“Despite repeated calls, there is still no humanitarian ceasefire,” added UNRWA.
A woman reacts upon identifying the body of a relative killed in an Israeli strike, in front of the morgue of the Najjar hospital in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 4, 2024. (Photo by Mahmud Hams / AFP)
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[3:12pm Doha Time] Israel has provided no evidence to back UNRWA accusations: Lazzarini
UNRWA’s commissioner general told the Financial Times (FT) that Israel has yet to provide evidence of its claims that around a dozen UNRWA staff were involved in the October 7 attacks.
Philippe Lazzarini said although he was taking the allegations levelled at the organisation seriously he could not comment on the progress of the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services investigation.
A man wearing a jacket bearing the logo of the UNRWA in the refugee camp of Balata in the occupied West Bank on February 4, 2024. (Photo by Jaafar Ashtiyeh / AFP)
The FT stated that they had seen the intelligence assessment which provided no evidence for the claims which include an accusation that a staff member kidnapped a woman.
The claims have led 15 donor countries to withdraw their funding to the UNRWA, a move that Lazzarini said could lead to the UNRWA being forced to end lifesaving assistance and operations in the Gaza Strip by the end of February.
[12:19pm Doha Time] Death toll in Gaza goes up
At least 27,365 Palestinians have been killed and 66,630 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, Palestinian Health Ministry says.
Almost 130 of those have been killed in the last 24 hours, it added.
In addition, at least 382 people have been killed in Israeli army and settler attacks across the occupied West Bank.
[12:06pm Doha Time] Oman calls for end to war in Gaza
Oman’s foreign minister says his country is following the ongoing escalation in the region with great concern.
The escalation continues without a solution to “the unjust war” in Gaza and the death of tens of thousands of innocent civilians, Sayyid Badr al-Busaidi said in a statement to the Oman News Agency.
He added that the only solution to the conflict lies in addressing its causes and motives, starting with the recognition of the independent Palestinian state and the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the occupied Palestinian territory.
[10:10am Doha Time] Antiwar demonstrations in France, Switzerland and Germany
Thousands of people gathered in France, Switzerland, and Germany on Saturday to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
In Paris, hundreds of protesters, carrying Palestinian and South African flags, denounced the ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza. Criticising the French president for “complicity” in Israel’s attacks on Palestinians, the protesters urged the government to work towards peace in the Middle East.
In Geneva, thousands marched through the city centre in support of the people of Gaza. In Berlin, 2,000 Palestinian supporters rallied at Potsdamer Platz against the attacks.
More rallies are planned across the world on Sunday to call for an end to the war that has seen more than 27,000 Palestinians killed by Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7.
Pro-Palestinian activists and supporters wave flags, chant slogans and carry placards during a National March for Palestine, in central London, on February 3, 2024. Photo by Ben Stansall / AFP
[9:10am Doha Time] Ninety-two killed in Israeli attacks in Rafah: Gaza ministry
Gaza’s health ministry has said that at least 92 Palestinians were killed overnight, including in an Israeli bombardment of a kindergarten in Rafah where displaced people had been sheltering.
Mourners gathered outside a local hospital in the morning to pray for the dead after another overnight of heavy destruction and deaths.
“The children were just sleeping and suddenly the bombardment happened. The bedroom fell on my children. God took one of my children and three escaped death,” resident Ahmad Bassam al-Jamal told the AFP news agency, his voice breaking.
“My child now is a martyr in heaven.”
Concerns over a potential Israeli ground incursion into the southern border city have mounted in recent days, with hundreds of thousands of displaced from other parts of Gaza seeking refuge in makeshift shelters and encampments.
Smoke rises over buildings amid Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 3, 2024. Photo by Mohammed ABED / AFP
[8:30am Doha Time] UN special rapporteur on UNRWA funding cuts
The humanitarian situation in Gaza is worsening, with more than 26,000 Palestinians killed and another 1.7 million displaced since October 7.
At least a dozen countries have announced they will be suspending funds for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) after Israel accused 12 of the agency’s employees of participating in the October 7 attacks.
UNRWA has been a crucial provider of humanitarian aid in Gaza, so why, during a time of crisis and based only on allegations, have countries pulled their funding? What will happen to civilians who depend on the agency for survival?
A young boy carries empty jerricans in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 3, 2024. Photo by Mohammed ABED / AFP
[8am Doha Time] Deadly Israeli raid on kindergarten in Rafah: Wafa
Israeli warplanes bombed a kindergarten where displaced people were sheltering east of Rafah at dawn on Sunday, the Wafa news agency is reporting.
Several people, including two girls, were killed in the attack, and dozens of others were injured, Wafa reports, citing medical sources.
As Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reported earlier, Israeli attacks on the Al-Salam neighbourhood, east of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, have been intensifying as concern grows Israel will expand its ground invasion to Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering in overcrowded conditions.
An injured man reacts upon identifying the body of his son killed in Israeli bombardment at the Najjar hospital in Rafah on February 3, 2024. Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP
