Middle East crisis live: UK government ‘deeply concerned’ about planned offensive in Rafah | Israel-Gaza war

• The UK announced new sanctions on “four extremist Israeli settlers who have committed human rights abuses against Palestinian communities in the West Bank,” the Foreign Office said.

• Israel freed two Israeli hostages in Rafah on Monday under the cover of airstrikes which local health officials said killed 67 Palestinians and injured dozens in the southern Gaza city that is the last refuge of about a million displaced civilians. The freed hostages were named by the Israel Defense Forces as Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70, who were taken from the Nir Yitzhak kibbutz in the 7 October Hamas attacks.

• There are growing international concerns about the prospect of a ground offensive on the southern city of Rafah. The Australian government warned that Israel’s plans for a military offensive on Rafah could have “devastating consequences” for Palestinian civilians sheltering there. The foreign minister, Penny Wong, also suggested on Monday that a failure to ensure special care for more than 1 million civilians in the area, many in makeshift tents, would “cause serious harm to Israel’s own interests”. The EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, meanwhile, said he is “extraordinarily concerned” about Benjamin Netanyahu’s threats to launch attacks on Rafah with no evacuation plan and no prospect of refugee camps in Egypt. On Monday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, said: “I am especially concerned by the recent attacks on Rafah where the majority of Gaza’s population has fled the destruction.” The official spokesperson for Rishi Sunak, the UK’s prime minister, said they were “deeply concerned” about the prospect of a military offensive in Rafah. Echoing these concerns, the UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, said Israel should “stop and think seriously” before taking further action in Rafah, adding that many of the people in the city had already fled from other areas and have nowhere else to go.

• A Dutch appeals court ordered the Dutch government to block all exports of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel within seven days, according to Reuters. “It is undeniable that there is a clear risk the exported F-35 parts are used in serious violations of international humanitarian law,” the court said.

• Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed 28,340 Palestinians and injured 67,984 since 7 October, the health ministry in Gaza said.

• The UK government has a duty not just to support the orders of the International Court of Justice, but to change UK policy by suspending the supply of arms to Israel, David Cameron has been told by 30 UK-based organisations including legal and atrocity prevention groups.

Geneva Abdul

A woman evacuated from Gaza to the UK is desperate to help her family exit the territory amid warnings of an Israeli military ground offensive in Rafah which was hit by heavy airstrikes overnight.

Islam Alashi, 38, found herself amid the war after travelling to Gaza from Liverpool to visit her father in September. After nearly 60 days under Israeli bombardment, Alashi was able to evacuate and return to her family in the UK in December, where she has since started a fundraising campaign to evacuate her father, sister and niece as they shelter with more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population in Rafah.

“My mind is still there, to be honest, I just came to be beside my kids and my husband,” said Alashi, who has not been able to return to work or her routine before the war. “Nothing changed for me because yes I saved myself, but I can’t save the rest of my family.”

Following reports of airstrikes in Rafah last night, Alashi, who last spoke with her sister two days ago, said she is “terrified” for her family sheltering in a tent near the border, which cost them $1,000. The only option to evacuate her family now, said Alashi, is paying for them to cross into Egypt.

“If we pay $5,000 for each one of the adults and $2,500 for the baby they can be evacuated the next week,” said Alashi. The Guardian previously reported on bribes being paid up to $10,000 (£7,850) to help Palestinians leave Gaza through the Rafah border crossing.

When her name appeared on the list of evacuees at the Rafah border crossing in December, Alashi took her father, who is Palestinian, and sister, who holds a Yemeni passport, and niece as well, hoping they’d be able to cross with her. Her family was returned to Rafah, recalled Alashi, who was too upset to turn her head as she left.

“When I can connect with my sister she’s crying all the time, and I cry, she says ‘please save us, please do something for us’,” said Alashi. “But I can’t do anything to them because it’s about governments.”

The official spokesperson for Rishi Sunak, the UK’s prime minister, said they were “deeply concerned” about the prospect of a military offensive in Rafah.

The city, on the border with Egypt, is one of the few regions not yet targeted by an Israeli ground offensive and is providing refuge to more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population who have fled fighting elsewhere.

The prime minister’s official spokesperson said:

We are obviously deeply concerned about the prospect of a military offensive in Rafah.

Over half of Gaza’s population are sheltering there and that crossing is vital to ensuring aid can reach the people who desperately need it.

The UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, said Israel should “stop and think seriously” before taking further action in Rafah, which was hit by heavy airstrikes overnight.

Cameron said many of the people in Rafah had already fled from other areas and said there is nowhere else for them to go.

Speaking to reporters in East Kilbride, Scotland, he said:

We are very concerned about what is happening in Rafah because, let’s be clear, the people there, many of whom have moved four, five, six times before getting there.

It really, we think, is impossible to see how you can fight a war among these people, there is nowhere for them to go.

They can’t go south into Egypt, they can’t go north and back to their homes because many have been destroyed.

So we are very concerned about the situation and we want Israel to stop and think seriously before it takes any further action.

But above all, what we want is an immediate pause in the fighting. We want that pause to lead to a ceasefire, a sustainable ceasefire without a return to further fighting. That is what should happen now.

We need to get those hostages out, including the British nationals. We need to get the aid in. The best way to do that is to stop the fighting now and turn that into a permanent, sustainable ceasefire.

An Israeli government spokesperson said that Hamas had been reduced to half its fighting force, Reuters reported.

“We’re talking about three-quarters of Hamas’ battalions that have been shattered … with over 12,000 terrorists who have been killed,” spokesperson Eylon Levy said.

The United Kingdom has announced new sanctions on “four extremist Israeli settlers who have committed human rights abuses against Palestinian communities in the West Bank,” the Foreign Office said.

The foreign secretary, David Cameron, said in a statement:

Today’s sanctions place restrictions on those involved in some of the most egregious abuses of human rights. We should be clear about what is happening here. Extremist Israeli settlers are threatening Palestinians, often at gunpoint, and forcing them off land that is rightfully theirs. This behaviour is illegal and unacceptable.

Israel must also take stronger action and put a stop to settler violence. Too often, we see commitments made and undertakings given, but not followed through.

Extremist settlers, by targeting and attacking Palestinian civilians, are undermining security and stability for both Israelis and Palestinians.