Latest Israel-Hamas war news and Gaza conflict updates

Israel’s defense minister said the focus of its operation will turn to Rafah — a city in southern Gaza that is now said to be home to almost half the enclave’s population. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which aids Palestinian refugees, renewed its plea for countries including the United States, Britain and Germany to reverse their decisions to suspend at least $440 million in funding after Israel charged that its staffers participated in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks. UNRWA said that nearly 2 million people depend on the agency “for their sheer survival.”