If Israel mounts an assault on Rafah, we will witness the desperate consequences of this terrible war

Editorial: More than a million civilians are crowded into makeshift camps in and around the city in southern Gaza. In the absence of a ceasefire, human disaster on a massive scale looks impossible to avoid

Palestinians flee Rafah on Monday fearing an invasion by the IDF (Reuters)

It is hard to extract any crumb of comfort whatsoever from the latest developments in and around Israel and Gaza.

In the clearest sign yet that Israel intends to go ahead with its long-threatened assault on Rafah, its defence forces warned some of the hundreds of thousands sheltering in parts of the southern Gazan city to move to what it called an expanded “humanitarian area”.

The warning, which the IDF cast as “encouragement” or “advice”, rather than an order for a “wide-scale evacuation”, follows continuing negotiations in Cairo about a ceasefire and the release of at least some, if not all, of the remaining hostages.