Tensions remain boiling in Gaza as the threat of an IDF invasion hangs over the city of Rafah, where over one million Palestinians are sheltering.

• An Israeli military official, on the condition of anonymity, told the New York Times that were the IDF to launch an invasion of Rafah, an Israeli-designated “humanitarian zone” along the coast would be expanded to take in more civilians. These comments are among the first indications of IDF plans for civilians in the event of a ground invasion in the city, which the Biden administration and countless other Western diplomats have repeatedly urged Israel against pursuing.

• U.N. officials and some donor nations are calling for the reinstatement of funding to UNRWA—the main U.N. agency providing aid to Palestinians—after an independent review found that Israel had not offered sufficient evidence to support its claim that as many as 10 percent of the agency’s employees are members of terrorist organizations. Led by its largest donor, the United States, more than a dozen countries suspended funding to UNRWA in January after Israel claimed that twelve agency staff had participated in the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks. A spokesperson for U.N. secretary general António Guterres said on Monday that he had accepted the report’s recommendations and asked donor nations “to actively support UNRWA, as it is a lifeline for Palestinian refugees in the region.” Several donor nations who had initially suspended funding the organization, including Australia, Canada, and Japan, have already resumed donations to the organizations, citing the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. In the United States, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) has led the charge in Congress to resume funding to the agency, and backed the report’s findings.

A State Department spokesperson told reporters on Monday that the Biden administration was reviewing the commissioned report, but had no assessment yet of its conclusions. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday: “In terms of our funding of UNRWA, that is still suspended. We’re gonna have to see real progress here before that gets changed.” UNRWA has argued that Israel has engaged in a “deliberate, concerted campaign” to undermine its operations at the time of greatest need in Gaza. Israel’s Foreign Ministry called on donor countries to avoid sending money to the organization in a statement on Monday.