NOWHERE IS SAFE

MISSILES rained down yesterday as scores of trapped Brits tried to escape the ruins of Gaza.

- JEREMY ARMSTRONG 

They feared for their lives as Israel's bombings continued and tanks blocked the Rafah crossing into Egypt. It was closed in an apparent dispute over evacuating patients.

Just 88 of the 200 Brits listed as being in Gaza at the start of the war had left the region by yesterday.

The Foreign Office said it was pressing for the reopening of the Rafah crossing. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there would be no let-up in the bombardment despite pleas from world leaders including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for a humanitarian pause in military action.

Mr Blinken also said a ceasefire would allow Hamas to repeat attacks.

Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi condemned Hamas's October 7 attack but said the war should stop. He said: "The whole region is sinking in a sea of hatred that will define generations to come.

It was unsafe to travel even 25 minutes to the border with Egypt from the north of Gaza. In the north, 400,000 Palestinians, surviving on two pieces of bread a day, are at risk at whatever Israel inflicts on them and hospitals are running out of power.

Among the 112 Brits in Gaza was Dr Ibrahim Assalia and his family. They are trapped near Al-Shifa hospital, where 15 were killed in an air strike on an ambulance on Friday.

They are unwilling to risk any attempt to leave. He said: "I can't take my family and go there and, God forbid, be shelled or be killed by a tank or, I prefer to wait.

"The Foreign Office informed us that our names will be there on the border for seven days.

"If we don't make it within seven days, the names will be deleted.