Bodies of Amit Buskila and Itzhak Gelerenter also recovered from Gaza as Israel says 129 hostages remain in captivity

The bodies of three hostages kidnapped by Hamas, including the German-Israeli Shani Louk, have been retrieved from Gaza by the Israeli military, it announced.

The other two hostages were identified as Amit Buskila, 28, and Itzhak Gelerenter, 56, according to the military spokesperson Rear Adm Daniel Hagari, who said the three victims were taken to Gaza after being killed by Hamas at the Nova music festival.

Israel is appearing at international court of justice after South Africa asked it to urgently order end to assault on Rafah

Yemen’s Houthis said they downed a US MQ9 drone on Thursday evening over the south-eastern province of Maareb, the group’s military spokesperson said on Friday.

According to Reuters, the Iran-aligned group said they would release images and videos to support their claim and added that they had targeted the drone using a locally made surface to air missile.

This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our coverage of the war here

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group says it has launched “more than 60” rockets at Israeli military positions in retaliation for overnight air strikes on the country’s east, AFP reports

Israel and Hamas ally Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily fire following the Palestinian group’s October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, now in its eighth month.

Secretary of state Antony Blinken defends decision to pause bomb delivery to Israel: ‘We have real concerns about the way they’re used’

On Sunday, more families, estimated in the thousands, were leaving Rafah as the Israeli military pressure intensified. Tank shells landed across the southern Gaza city as the army gave new evacuation orders covering some neighbourhoods in the centre of Rafah, which borders Egypt. Israel yesterday called for Palestinians in more areas of Rafah to head to what it calls an expanded humanitarian area in al-Mawasi, a narrow strip of coastline at the southernmost end of the territory. But there are grave concerns for the security of those fleeing to the area, which aid workers say is packed with hundreds of thousands of displaced people who have already overwhelmed inadequate supplies of food, clean water and healthcare. Sanitation barely exists, leading to the rapid spread of disease.

The UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, has said it would be wrong for Israel to carry out a major offensive in Rafah “without a plan to protect people”. “For there to be a major offensive in Rafah, there would have to be an absolutely clear plan about how you save lives, how you move people out the way, how you make sure they’re fed, you make sure that they have medicine and shelter and everything,” the former Conservative prime minister told Sky News. “We have seen no such plan … so we don’t support an offensive in that way,” he added, echoing similar statements by the US. The closure of the Rafah border crossing to Egypt, the difficulties of reaching the Kerem Shalom crossing because of the fighting, a lack of transport because of fuel shortages and the flight of key workers mean almost no aid is reaching southern and central Gaza.

The UN secretary general, António Guterres, urged for “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages and an immediate surge in humanitarian aid” into the besieged Gaza Strip. “But a ceasefire will only be the start,” Guterres told a donor conference in Kuwait. “It will be a long road back from the devastation and trauma of this war,” he said.

Palestinians reported heavy Israeli bombardment overnight in the Jabaliya refugee camp and other areas in the northern Gaza Strip, which has suffered widespread devastation. Residents said Israeli warplanes and artillery struck across the camp and the Zeitoun area east of Gaza City.

On Sunday, more families, estimated in the thousands, were leaving Rafah as the Israeli military pressure intensified.

Israeli military drops leaflets ordering hundreds of thousands of people to leave the city. This blog is now closed.

• Israel orders central Rafah residents to evacuate

In case you missed it yesterday, the UN general assembly voted overwhelmingly to back the Palestinian bid for full UN membership.

Israeli tanks have reached the Salahuddin Road which crosses Rafah, dividing its centre from the eastern neighbourhoods evacuated before Israel’s seizure of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt last week, witnesses in Rafah told the Guardian.

Our neighbours and friends have been looking for a place for a while in case something happened but since the leaflets were dropped this morning, they are afraid and anxious.

They have already begun to dismantle their tents and prepare their belongings for transportation.

People who have already been repeatedly displaced by war describe their plight as they seek safety elsewhere in Gaza

Under a blazing summer sun, tens of thousands of Palestinians fled Israeli bombardment and clashes with Hamas militants in Rafah on Friday, choking roads with donkey carts, bicycles, pickup trucks and wheelchairs.

More than 150,000 people have now left Gaza’s southernmost city since receiving warnings on Monday from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of an imminent military operation, with most moving after airstrikes and fighting intensified later in the week.