UN says over half a million people flee fighting in Gaza

More than half a million Palestinians have been displaced in recent days by escalating Israeli military operations in Rafah and northern Gaza, the United Nations says.
Israelis celebrated their Independence Day on Tuesday with barbecues in parks across the country, although the normally raucous parties were smaller and quieter this year because of the war in Gaza.
No food has entered the two main border crossings in southern Gaza for the past week. Some 1.1 million Palestinians face catastrophic levels of hunger – on the brink of starvation – according to the United Nations. A “full-blown famine” is taking place in the north.
Around 450,000 Palestinians have been driven out of Rafah in Gaza’s south over the past week, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said Tuesday. Israeli forces are pushing into the city, which they portray as the last Hamas stronghold.