Israel-Gaza live updates: Israeli hostage declared dead in Gaza

On Tuesday, 30 people, including six children and eight women, were killed and 146 others were injured in Rafah, a spokesman for Al Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah told ABC News.

People in at least six neighborhoods in eastern Rafah have started evacuating.

“With more than 1.5 million civilians crowded together on this piece of land, an escalation by the Israeli military threatens to turn Rafah into a cemetery. We call for an immediate and lasting ceasefire to prevent further civilian deaths and injuries in Gaza and to enable the urgent expansion.” “The survival of the civilian population in Gaza depends on it,” said Avril Benoît, executive director of Doctors Without Borders USA.

Aid groups, including the International Rescue Committee, have called on Israel to halt its ground assault in Rafah and across the Gaza Strip, warning that civilians have nowhere to go.

“Aid groups’ dire warnings have come true: Israeli forces have launched a ground attack in East Rafah and seized control of the Palestinian side of the border crossing. Over a million civilians are now in imminent danger and the flow of aid through the Rafah border crossing has increased.” “No aid trucks have arrived since May 5,” said Bob Kitchen, IRC vice president for emergencies.

“Already, overnight Israeli airstrikes on the city of Rafah have reportedly killed dozens of civilians, while hundreds of thousands more remain in grave danger due to the risk of further conflict and lack of access to life-saving assistance. This is unreasonable.” “We are targeting such a densely populated area that 1.3 million people are left without a safe haven,” Kitchen said.

-Ellie Kaufman and Will Gretsky from ABC News

The White House expects the Kerem Shalom crossing to reopen on Wednesday, but is working to push back that timeline to get vital humanitarian aid to northern Gaza even sooner.

“Israel is committed to reopening Kerem Shalom,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told ABC News. “We were told this would happen tomorrow. We’re working to improve that.”

“Fuel deliveries via Rafah should also start tomorrow. That’s what we were told. And we believe that the Rafah border crossing should also be quickly reopened for the transport of humanitarian aid. “We insist that there should be no disruption to the flow of humanitarian aid,” Jean-Pierre said.

Jean-Pierre would not say whether the US still expects the Israelis to alert them if they plan to carry out a full-scale operation in Rafah, but reiterated that it does not support the IDF carrying out that operation.

“We don’t want to see a major operation in Rafah. We want a plan, a comprehensive plan, on how Israel will protect the 1.5, more than a million civilians who are currently taking refuge in Rafah,” Jean-Pierre said.

-Mary Bruce and Justin Gomez from ABC News

Lior Rudaeff, 61, an Israeli hostage taken by Hamas, was declared dead after being killed in the Oct. 7 attack, the Hostage Release Center said.

Rudaeff volunteered as an ambulance driver. He was married to his wife Yaffa for 38 years and had four children: Noam, Nadav, Bar and Ben.

“The Israeli government has a deep moral obligation to exhaust all options in the ongoing negotiations to bring Lior home. He deserves a dignified burial in his home country, along with the 38 other brutally murdered hostages. The government must also ensure the rapid return of all living hostages so that they can begin the long road to healing and recovery,” a spokesperson for the Hostage Families Forum said in a statement on Tuesday.

The bodies of the 38 hostages declared dead continue to be held by Hamas.

-Will Gretsky of ABC News

The White House is monitoring the situation unfolding in Rafah “very, very closely” but argues that, according to Israel’s statements, this does not equate to the full-scale invasion that the US has warned Israel about. John Kirby, coordinator of the US National Security Council, told reporters on Tuesday.

“Our Israeli counterparts have informed us that this operation last night was limited and aimed at disrupting Hamas’s ability to smuggle weapons and funds into Gaza. Our views on Rafah remain the same. “We have repeatedly and consistently expressed these views about a large-scale operation in Rafah in densely populated areas that would pose a greater risk to civilians and civilian casualties,” Kirby said.

“President Biden made that very clear yesterday when he spoke to Prime Minister Netanyahu, as I said yesterday, and we will be watching this situation very closely to see how it develops,” Kirby said.

Kirby was also asked whether he believed Isarel was complying with international law since the two main arteries for the delivery of aid to Gaza were blocked. Kirby sidestepped questions, underscoring the U.S. desire to bring more aid to Gaza and Biden’s explicit request to Netanyahu to ensure that happens during their phone call Monday.

-Molly Nagle of ABC News