800,000 have fled fierce fighting in Rafah, UN says

Israel's military said air strikes hit more than 70 targets across Gaza while ground troops conducted "targeted raids" in eastern Rafah, killing 50 militants and locating dozens of tunnel shafts.
Philippe Lazzarini of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said that since Israel's Rafah operation began, there had been a massive movement of people.
"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", the UNRWA chiefsaid on X.
He said people were fleeing to areas without water supplies or adequate sanitation.
It came as political divisions in Israel's war cabinet burst into the open on Saturday night, with minister Benny Gantz saying he would quit unless Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved a post-war plan for the Gaza Strip, reports BSS.
Gantz called for six goals to be met, including establishing a multinational civilian administration for Gaza.
Netanyahu hit back, calling the threat "washed-up words" that would mean "defeat for Israel".
Meanwhile, Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said it fired a barrage of rockets towards Israel's port of Ashkel on and targeted anIsraeli command centre at the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
Late Saturday, Israel's military issued new evacuation orders for parts ofnorthern Gaza, saying militants in the area had fired rockets at Israel.
Earlier, an AFP reporter said air strikes and artillery pounded eastern Rafahas warplanes overflew the city on Gaza's border with Egypt.
More than 10 days into what the army called a "limited" Rafah operation thatsparked the exodus, fighting has also flared again in northern Gaza.
Israel said in early January it had dismantled Hamas's command structure inthe north, but the army said Hamas -- whose October 7 attack sparked the war-- had been "in complete control here in Jabalia until we arrived a few daysago".
Hamas slammed what it called Israel's "escalating crimes of the occupation"and "intensified brutal raids" on Jabalia, saying they had killed dozens ofcivilians and wounded hundreds.
- First aid via pier -
Aid groups say Israel's Rafah incursion, launched despite overwhelminginternational opposition and as mediators were hoping for a breakthrough installed truce talks, has worsened an already dire humanitarian crisis.
With key land crossings closed or operating at limited capacity because ofthe fighting, some aid began entering Gaza via a temporary US-built floatingpier.
The Israeli army said 310 pallets began moving ashore in "the first entry ofhumanitarian aid through the floating pier".
Satellite pictures showed more than a dozen trucks lining up Saturday on itsapproach road.
In the coming days, around 500 tonnes of aid are expected to be delivered viathe pier, according to US Central Command.
But UN agencies and humanitarian aid groups have warned sea or air deliveriescannot replace more efficient truck convoys into Gaza, where the UN hasrepeatedly warned of looming famine.
The Rafah crossing, a vital conduit for humanitarian aid, has been closedsince Israel launched its operation in the city.
The war began after Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, whichresulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, accordingto an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 35,386people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to data provided by the Hamas-runterritory's health ministry.
The toll includes at least 83 deaths over the past 24 hours, said a ministrystatement on Saturday.
Out of 252 people taken hostage from Israel during the October 7 attack, 124remain held in Gaza including 37 the army says are dead.
- 'Advancing and retreating' -
The army said Saturday that troops had recovered the body of hostage RonBenjamin in the same Gaza operation that saw the bodies of three otherhostages killed on October 7 retrieved late Thursday.
Israel has vowed to defeat remaining Hamas forces in Rafah, which it says isthe Iran-backed group's last bastion.
Palestinian sources in Rafah said Israeli forces were operating in the Al-Salam and Jenina neighbourhoods and on the Philadelphi route along theEgyptian border.
"Troops are advancing and retreating around these areas," a security sourcesaid.
Cairo, which has been involved in mediation efforts, says a potential Israelitakeover of Philadelphi could violate the two countries' landmark 1979 peacedeal.
Meanwhile, Israel said it killed two senior Islamic Jihad militants in airstrikes in the northern West Bank and in Rafah.
In northern Gaza's Beit Lahia, witnesses reported air strikes near KamalAdwan hospital on Saturday.
Its director Hussam Abu Safiya said Friday the facility had received "largenumbers" of casualties from nearby Jabalia and was running low on supplies.
Its fuel supply was "barely enough for a few days", he told AFP.
The World Health Organization has received no medical supplies in Gaza sincethe Rafah operation began, spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said Friday.
- Biden aide visits -
On the diplomatic front, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan washeading to the region.
Sullivan will meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Saturday andIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, National SecurityCouncil spokesman John Kirby said.
Political divisions inside Israel were highlighted Saturday when Gantz saidhe and his party would quit the government unless Netanyahu approved a post-war plan for Gaza.
In a televised address, Gantz gave a June 8 deadline for "an action plan" forGaza, including defeating Hamas, returning the hostages and ensuring Israelisecurity control over Gaza.
Netanyahu dismissed Gantz's comments as "washed-up words whose meaning isclear: the end of the war and a defeat for Israel, the abandoning of most ofthe hostages, leaving Hamas intact and the establishment of a Palestinianstate."