The main UN agency providing aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip (UNRWA) said some 300,000 people have left Rafah over the past week.

The UN agency posted the text of the statement hours after the Israeli government issued new evacuation orders in Rafah and other areas of Gaza.

The World Food Programme organization also expressed concern over the displacement of civilians, saying a full-scale incursion into Rafah would be "catastrophic," Today in Israel reported.