Aya Batrawy

We hear from an American who moved to Israel before the October 7th attacks and has served in the Israeli army in Gaza. Over a series of conversations with NPR, he wrestles with the war, his role there, and how much more he can give.

For more coverage of all sides of this conflict, go to npr.org/mideastupdates

About half of Gaza's southern area of Rafah is under Israeli evacuation orders as aid groups race to assist those fleeing.

The Gaza Strip's Rafah border crossing with Egypt has been a key lifeline for people in the Palestinian enclave. Here is a timeline of events since Oct. 7, 2023, leading up to Israel's offensive.

An Israeli tank brigade has seized control of the Gaza Strip side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

People in southern Gaza say they're tired of being displaced and moved around, only to be bombed or told to move again. In Rafah, where Israel plans an assault, families weigh the risks of what to do.

Aid groups draw up contingency plans as Israel plans assault on Rafah, where most people in Gaza are displaced. Meanwhile, the U.S. is building a pier to deliver aid.

In response to Israel's vow to expand its ground offensive to the southern Gaza city of Rafah, residents and refugees consider whether they will attempt to flee.

Israel has intensified its airstrikes on Gaza's southern city of Rafah. Palestinians say most of those killed are women and children.

Dubai is still recovering from unprecedented floods days after the heaviest rainfall ever recorded in the United Arab Emirates.

Recovery teams are exhuming bodies from mass graves at Gaza's Al Shifa hospital more than two weeks after an Israeli raid there.

NPR photos show the Gaza Strip's biggest hospital in ruins after an Israeli raid. Israel says the siege only targeted militants. Palestinians recount a different story.

The aftermath of Israel's raid on Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital and airstrike on foreign workers shows the risks of an even wider assault on Rafah, where most Palestinians are now sheltering.

Isreali forces concluded a two-week siege of Gaza's largest hospital. Survivors say forces destroyed the complex beyond repair, killed medics, detained hundreds of innocent people and burnt homes.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel after stops in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The war in Gaza is in its sixth month, and this is his sixth stop in the region since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

A report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification says everyone in Gaza faces high levels of acute food insecurity, and more than a million struggle with catastrophic levels of hunger.

The religious traditions and cultural hallmarks of Ramadan are impossible to observe in Gaza this year, where people are starving, displaced from their homes, mourning their dead and under threat of continued airstrikes.

The world has been pushing for a pause in the fighting in the Israel-Hamas war by the start of Ramadan. The Muslim holy month has begun and still no cease-fire agreement is in place.

The health ministry says soon the death toll will reach 30,000 people — many of them women and children. But officials say the actual number is much higher.

A baby in Gaza City died after going days without milk, a civil defense team says, as aid agencies warn of the risk of famine unless Israel permits much more aid to enter the besieged territory.

Negotiations toward a ceasefire in Gaza are progressing as Israel's prime minister sets a post-war vision. Negotiators from the U.S., Israel, Egypt and Qatar are to meet in Paris to discuss a deal.