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Israel Gaza live updates: Gazans begin leaving Rafah after Israel evacuation order - BBC News Israel Gaza live updates: Gazans begin leaving Rafah after Israel evacuation order - BBC News
(32 minutes later)
Jacqueline Howard Anthony Zurcher
Live reporter BBC North America correspondent
American officials have been warning Israel not to start a major ground operation of Rafah for weeks.
A short while ago, I was in contact with Professor Nick Maynard, a British surgeon volunteering in Gaza. They have said that the potential for massive civilian casualties is high and that the move will further alienate Israel on the world stage.
As we spoke, bombs began to fall and gunfights kicked off as he approached the Rafah crossing to return to the UK. The US has made an intense diplomatic effort to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that would forestall action in Rafah. Recent news that the Americans delayed a munitions delivery to the Israelis could be meant as a preview of consequences if Israel chooses to move forward with a military assault.
It began with two strikes, which shot plumes of smoke into the air, before descending into “non-stop bombing surrounding the crossing”, Maynard told me. As a Rafah evacuation begins, the US efforts appear increasingly fruitless. An invasion would deal yet another blow to the Biden administration’s “bear hug” strategy: American support for Israel in public that allows them, in private, to guide the Israelis toward less drastic military action.
There was a lot of uncertainly as to whether he would be able to cross the border at all – at one point, it was thought they would have to turn back. An escalation of violence in Gaza would also complicate domestic politics for Joe Biden, who is already dealing with critics on the left and right claiming his policy of support for Israel either goes too far or not far enough.
He told me the Palestinian officials stationed at the crossing were junior and were “as much in the dark as we were” about the bombs falling overhead. Administration officials had hoped that a ceasefire would buy the president some breathing room amid widespread US university protests and public concerns about civil unrest. Instead, the future may hold another wave of bloodshed and destruction in Gaza.
The permission to cross into Egypt came suddenly, he said, and once he was safely across on the Egyptian side, we spoke again.
"I can still hear the bombs, and the bombs are so close that the buildings here are shaking,” he said.
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