US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel today, where he is expected to press for what he called an “essential” truce agreement as the offensive on Gaza enters its fifth month.

According to AFP, the diplomat is due to meet Israel’s leaders as part of a Middle East crisis tour after earlier stops in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar.

Gaza’s health ministry said at least 100 people were killed overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday.

Around 8,000 displaced people had been evacuated from the besieged Al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis, where they had sought refuge, after weeks of heavy shelling and fighting nearby, according to the Red Cross.

Israel has warned it could also push on into Rafah, the last place of refuge for many Palestinians fleeing the fighting.

Safia Marouf, sheltering in Rafah with her family after being uprooted from their home further north, said she is afraid of what is to come. “The children are scared all the time, and if we want to leave Rafah, we don’t know where to go. What will be our destiny and that of our children?”