Thousands flee Rafah assault as aid groups warn suffering will be 'unbearable': Live updates

About 80,000 people have fled the southern Gaza city of Rafah this week as Israeli tanks mass on the edge of the city and humanitarian aid is choked off by border closures, U.N. agencies said Thursday.

"The toll on these families is unbearable," the U.N. Relief Works Agency said on social media. "Nowhere is safe."

Talks in Cairo were paused Thursday as hopes dimmed that a cease-fire agreement would be reached to end the suffering. Matthew Hollingworth, Palestine director of the World Food Program, said no aid has entered through the southern border crossings in two days. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said the intensification of Israel's military operations and the closure of key border crossings have severed access to fuel, threatening to grind humanitarian operations to a halt.

Hospitals, primary health care centers, water desalination plants, water wells and sewage pumps could run out of fuel "within days, if not hours," Russell said.

Israel has said about 100,000 people live in the area of Rafah where it plans a "limited" military operation and is directing evacuees to Khan Younis and Al-Mawais. Russell said neither is suitable − Khan Younis has been nearly destroyed by the war and Al-Mawasi is a narrow strip of beach that lacks basic infrastructure such as toilets and running water needed to sustain the population.

“We have also been warning for months that any military escalation in Rafah would lead to even greater human suffering," Russell said. "Now we are seeing that play out in real-time."

'Not supplying the weapons' to Israel:No arms if there's a major Gaza offensive, Biden says

Developments:

∎ The U.N. General Assembly will vote Friday on a resolution that would provide more rights to Palestinians and urge the Security Council to approve full membership. The U.S. vetoed full membership last month.

∎ Israel posted a budget deficit of $3.1 billion in April because of higher spending on the war, the Finance Ministry said.

∎ CIA Director William Burns had returned from Jerusalem to Cairo and resumed meetings Thursday with mediators trying to secure a cease-fire, multiple Egyptian security sources said.

White House warned Israel ahead of weapons pause

White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby stressed Thursday that Biden's public promise to pause the delivery of certain weapons to Israel was first communicated to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in private. The Israeli government "has understood this for some time now," Kirby told reporters. Biden remains committed to ensuring Israel has what it needs to defend itself against all enemies, he said. But the president does not want American weapons to cause significant civilian casualties. 

"We're going to keep working with them on our part to develop alternative approaches that we think will have a better chance of strategic success, a better chance at eliminating the threat that the Israeli people still face from Hamas," Kirby said.

That includes working toward an alternative governance structure to Hamas, he said, and working with the Israelis to create safe spaces for the refugees in Rafah that include food, water and medical supplies.

"The arguments that somehow we're walking away from Israel fly in the face of the facts," he said.

− Francesca Chambers

Not just the US: Other nations also curb weapons sales to Israel

President Joe Biden has taken severe criticism from former President Donald Trump, many other Republicans and some Israeli leaders for pledging to curb the sale of certain weapons to Israel if the southern Gaza city of Rafah is invaded. But other nations already have cut off some or all weapons supplies.

∘ The Dutch government halted shipments of F-35 jet parts to Israel in February after an appeals court ruled there was a risk the parts were being used for violations of humanitarian law. The Dutch government is appealing.

∘ Canada's government stopped licensing arms exports to Israel in January. The freeze is scheduled to continue pending assurances the weapons are used in accordance with humanitarian law.

∘ Italy, one of Israel's biggest arms suppliers, halted new export approvals when the Israel-Hamas war began.

The U.S. is Israel's top supplier; Germany a distant second.

The looming invasion of Rafah, where more than 1 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering, has been a critical issue for global leaders. Netanyahu has vowed to enter Rafah to crush Hamas militants behind the Oct. 7 border attacks that triggered the Israel-Hamas war. But world leaders fear an even larger humanitarian crisis there.

Israeli president says he stands by Biden

Israeli President Isaac Herzog dismissed the angry reaction to Biden's plan to curb weapons sales to Israel, saying the U.S president remains a great friend." Earlier Thursday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir published a note on social media: "Hamas loves Biden." But Herzog said urged Israelis not to make "irresponsible and insulting statements and tweets that harm the national security." He said allies, including Israel and its "greatest ally, the U.S." can work through disputes.

"I would like to say thank you to President Biden, who is a great friend of the state of Israel, and who proved as such from the first day of the war," Herzog said.

Trump rips Biden's plan to withhold weapons from Israel

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday blasted Biden's plan to deny Israel key weapons if its military fully invades the southern Gaza city of Rafah, accusing Biden of "leading the world straight into World War III."

"Hamas murdered thousands of innocent civilians, including babies, and are still holding Americans hostage, if the hostages are still alive," Trump said in a Truth Social post. "Yet Crooked Joe is taking the side of these terrorists, just like he has sided with the Radical Mobs taking over our college campuses, because his donors are funding them."

Israeli forces massed tanks and opened fire close to built-up areas of Rafah on Thursday, residents said, despite Biden's vow to withhold weapons − such as shipments of 2,000-pound bombs that were paused last week. Biden told CNN that if Israel goes into Rafah, "I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities."

Ireland, Spain could recognize a Palestinian state soon

Four European nations are in talks aimed at recognizing the Palestinian state simoultaneously as soon as May 21, multiple media reports revealed Thursday. Ireland Prime Minister Simon Harris told Ireland's RTE on Thursday that he and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez have a "clear plan" for recognizing the state of Palestine but are not willing to reveal a date yet. The Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that Spain could join Ireland, Slovenia and Malta in announcing formal recognition of Palestine on May 21 to lessen the political impact of the decision. Campaigning for election to the European Parliament begins next month.

"There is never a wrong time to do the right thing and the right thing to do right now is to recognize the State of Palestine," Harris told RTE. The two-state solution is the only way to achieve peace and stability in the region, Sanchez said earlier this week.

Israel has said recognition would reward Hamas for leading the Oct. 7 assault on Israeli civilians that killed almost 1,200 people and ignited the war that the Gaza Health Ministry says has killed almost 35,000 Palestinians. Most of western Europe has not recognized a Palestinian state, but eight members of the European Union have: Bulgaria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Cyprus and Sweden.

First aid ship sets sail for US built pier

A ship carrying aid to a pier built by the United States off Gaza set sail Thursday from Cyprus, Cypriot officials said. The U.S. flagged Sagamore, which left the port of Larnaca, will be used to offload supplies onto a floating pier built to expedite aid into the besieged enclave.

Cyprus opened a sea corridor in March to ship aid directly to Gaza, where deliveries via land have been severely disrupted by border closures and Israel's military offensive.

Contributing: Reuters