Israel Gaza war live news: US pauses bomb shipment to Israel as Palestinians trapped in Rafah

There is only enough fuel to run health services in the south of Gaza for three more days, the World Health Organization has said.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge in the south of Gaza from combat further north in the Palestinian enclave. Israel has threatened a major assault on the southern city of Rafah to defeat thousands of Hamas fighters it says are holed up there, and its troops are now battling the Islamist group on Rafah’s outskirts.

The WHO said a delivery of fuel to the area had been denied on Wednesday. It also said that Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah was already no longer functional, one of three hospitals in the city. Some of its equipment has been moved to field hospitals, WHO said.

“WHO has pre-positioned some supplies in warehouses and hospitals, but without more aid flowing into Gaza, we cannot sustain our life-saving support to hospitals,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that WHO would remain in the area to provide health services.

Having expected Hamas to reject – not accept – a ceasefire deal, the Israeli prime minister was primed to launch his long-planned offensive on Rafah. Will he now bow to pressure from the US and the families of Israeli hostages and hold off the assault? Kim Sengupta reports

CIA Director Bill Burns has met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss ceasefire and hostage negotiations, an Israeli official has said.

The Israeli war cabinet, made up of Mr Netanyahu, defence minister Yoav Gallant and former chief of the General Staff, Benny Gantz, are set to meet at 7.30pm local time today to discuss the state of those negotiations.

Below are the latest photos from Rafah as Israel prepares to conduct a ground offensive in the region.

Israel has nothing to add to reports that the United States has halted the supply of some munitions, a government spokesperson said on Wednesday.

He said he had heard the reports but added “I personally and the Israeli government do not have anything to add on these reports”.

The development comes after the US State Department was expected to release the report on Wednesday.

The United Arab Emirates has said it strongly condemns Israel‘s takeover of the Rafah border crossing on the Palestinian side and warned of the consequences of military escalation.

It comes after the speaker of UAE Federal National Council met with the ambassador of Qatar, a neighbouring country in the Gulf that has also been critical of Israel’s imminent offensive in Rafah.

At least 34,844 Palestinians were killed and 78,404 injured in Israel‘s military offensive in Gaza since 7 October, Gaza’s health ministry have said in a statement.