‘More than half a million people’ have fled fighting in Rafah and northern Gaza

Palestinian officials say Israeli strikes in central Gaza killed at least 12 people overnight and into Tuesday

Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern Gaza city of Rafah in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP)

More than half a million Palestinians have been displaced in recent days by escalating Israeli military operations in southern and northern Gaza, the United Nations says.

Around 450,000 Palestinians were driven out of Rafah in Gaza’s south over the past week, the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees said on Tuesday.