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Experience More of Israel … for Less

Gate 1 Travel knows Israel like no other travel company. Thanks to our longstanding and enduring relationships throughout the country, we can offer an unmatched experience that provides endless insight into its natural and cultural treasures, all at the best value you’ll find anywhere. There are as many reasons to visit Israel with Gate 1 Travel as there are historic and religious sites in this incredible nation.

Inspiration knows no bounds in Israel. Its culture, religion and history converge into a nation unlike any other. We invite you to join us in this land that we know so well.

Jerusalem: The Soul of Israel Perhaps no other city in the world boasts such a dense concentration of religious sites as Jerusalem. Many call this city the soul of Israel, and it’s easy to understand why. Powerful emblems of faith appear on every corner of the Old City, as you’ll see in the Stations of the Cross that line the Via Dolorosa, or Way of Sorrows. Jesus is said to have walked this road while bearing His cross. This pilgrimage route – and our own walk – ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on the site of His crucifixion. It’s a particularly moving visit – especially if you also pay homage at the place of His birth, Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, and at the Church of the Annunciation in the city of His youth, Nazareth.

In the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, the Temple Mount – crowned by the gilded Dome of the Rock – is said to shelter the Talmudic source of life, the site from where God gathered dust to create man. In Islamic faith, it is the location of Mohammed’s ascent to heaven. More than this, it is a symbol of unity, as Gabriel brought Mohammed here to pray with Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. The Western (or Wailing) Wall borders the temple – a pilgrimage site where the devout worship and insert prayerful slips of paper in the crannies between the mortar and rock. It is impossible to not be moved by the power of this place. We’ll examine it all as closely as religious law allows, then step outside the Old City for a breathtaking bird’s eye view from atop Mt. Zion – site of the ancient City of David.

Jerusalem’s new city is no less inspiring, as you might choose to discover for yourself. At the Israel Museum, art and archaeology from the country’s millennia of history are on display, none more remarkable than the fourth- and fifth-century Dead Sea Scrolls, housed under an impressive white dome. From inspiring to sobering, you may also visit Yad Vashem, Israel’s memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

During your stay, you can join our excursion to test the Dead Sea’s buoyancy; its waters are 34% saline! Farther south, the towering massif of Masada tells the dramatic story of 960 Jewish rebels who committed suicide in AD 73 rather than surrender to the Roman Empire.

Tiberias: Gateway to the Jordan River Valley: The “Garden of God” The River Jordan played a crucial part in Christian theology, the scene of miracles, battles, and baptisms. Most notably, John baptized Jesus in its waters at a site that we’ll visit. Today, the valley’s fertile history is on rich display and you can unravel it all, and so much more, during an enriching stay in Tiberias, hugging the Sea of Galilee’s shores. Nearby Beit She’an, a city dating to the 15th-century BC, invites you to stroll through 5,000 years of history.

Thousands of years of Canaanite, Egyptian, Roman, Arab, Byzantine, and Ottoman history blanket the shores of the Sea of Galilee. There will be ample time to explore Tiberias on your own – perhaps sampling one of its soothing thermal springs. But we suspect you’ll want to set out to discover more of Israel’s wide variety of sites. In Upper Galilee, a mystical Kabbalah artists’ colony welcomes you, and in the Golan Heights, you may sample special vintages at a kosher winery. Perhaps, too, you will visit the remarkably historic port city of Acre, or Akko, where echoes of knights and crusaders whisper in Ottoman-era medieval streets and explore the ancient ruins of Capernaum and the fabled spot where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, the Mount of Beatitudes.

Haifa & Tel Aviv: “Israel’s Riviera” The Mediterranean Sea does not spring to everyone’s mind when they think of Israel. But some of the country’s most beautiful places grace its sun-kissed coast. The splendid terraced Baha’i Gardens offer magnificent views of Haifa. Mt. Carmel was the spot of Elijah’s sacrifice by fire by which he miraculously ended a drought. And in Caesarea, seat of Pontius Pilate and of impressive Roman and Crusader ruins, Herod the Great built a city to rival Rome. With the blue waters of the Mediterranean as their backdrop, these historic sites are all the more magnificent.

If Jerusalem is Israel’s soul, Tel Aviv is its beating heart. This young and vibrant city on the sea never sleeps and offers a fun and fascinating glimpse into the country’s modern lifestyle. Whether you prefer an hour on the beach or an afternoon shopping at the Dizengoff Center, Tel Aviv never disappoints. By contrast, in the city’s southern districts, Jaffa or Joppa is a wellspring of biblical and rabbinical history.

VENTURE BEYOND THE ESSENTIAL Our Essential Israel and Affordable Israel programs offer Gate 1’s best value. But of course, there’s more to this magnificent country, from the stark beauty of its deserts and rich kibbutz culture to the staggering sites of its neighbor, Jordan. On these inspiring journeys, too, Gate 1’s value can’t be matched.

Take the Road to the Red Sea In the south of Israel, the Negev stretches to the Red Sea. The desert makes for a mesmerizing drive through arid plains, but it’s not all barren land. At Kibbutz Sde Boker, the first prime minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, retired and passed away. We’ll stop to pay respects at his grave. Farther south, the small town of Mitzpe Ramon sits on the northern ridge of the Ramon Crater. This once-forgotten enclave, built as a camp for the workers who laid the road to the Red Sea, is coming into its own as an eco-tourist destination.

The sea resort town of Eilat is a geographic crossroads; Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia are all visible from this northern tip of the Red Sea. Our days here are unregimented, with lots of time to swim or snorkel. And there’s plenty more to explore: join optional tours to the magnificent ancient city of Petra or to the Timna Valley, home to incredible rock formations carved by desert wind and the once-active copper mines known as King Solomon’s Mines.

While You’re Here, Marvel at Jordan’s Wonders Throughout our Israel trips, Jordan is always right across the border. So it only makes sense to select an itinerary that also explores this welcoming and remarkable country. Its gleaming capital Amman, called the “White City” for the stone used to build its houses, is rich in culture and tradition. Outside Amman, Jerash – the “Pompeii of the East” – provides incredible insight into the lives of the Romans in one of their more remote outposts. And on the summit of Mt. Nebo, you’ll not only have views of the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea; you’ll also see the reputed burial site of Moses. But perhaps Jordan’s most magnificent gem is Petra, the red sandstone city carved into rocky cliff faces.

Unravel Israel’s Mysteries with Gate 1 Travel

No matter how you choose to visit Israel with Gate 1, you’ll discover that this small country holds countless surprises. We offer numerous comprehensive tours packed with sightseeing. One thing is certain: whether this is your first visit or your fifth, we’ll show it all to you at a price that beats any other tour operator. Join us!

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12 Day Israel, Ancient & Modern Culture

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• Visit Old Jaffa, the ancient port city known for its biblical links with Solomon, Jonah and St. Peter
• Walking tour in Tel Aviv highlights the splendid Bauhaus architecture, named a UNESCO World Heritage Site
• In Haifa, view the Baha'i Shrine and see the magnificent and serene Baha'i Gardens
• Descend by cable car to the magical underwater grottos and sea caves at Rosh Hanikra
• Enjoy wine tasting at a boutique hilltop winery in the Golan Heights
• Visit the Hula Valley Nature Reserve; view the multimedia presentation about this unique ecosystem
• Pamper yourself in the warm thermal pools or float in the waters of the Dead Sea
• On the fabled mountaintop of Masada, you'll be transported back in time to the days of King Herod
• Discover the "golden" city of Jerusalem, one of the oldest and holiest cities in the world
• In Jerusalem, share a Sabbath Dinner with a family at their private home - a feast of local favorites!

What's this trip about?

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Immersive Israel

Travel themes, attractions, trip includes.

• Small groups of maximum 22 travelers guaranteed
• Round trip flights New York-Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-New YorkOther departure cities available. Click on date of departure for selection and prices
• Airline taxes & fuel surcharges
• 10 nights First Class accommodations 2 nights Tel Aviv 1 night Haifa 2 nights Galilee Region 1 night Dead Sea 4 nights Jerusalem Hotel taxes, fees & service charges
• Hotel porterage
• All transfers included only with airfare purchase on package arrival & departure dates†
• 17 meals: 10 breakfasts, 1 lunch, 6 dinners (including a home hosted lunch and farewell dinner)
• Sightseeing per itinerary in modern air-conditioned vehicles
• Services of English-speaking tour manager throughout
• Comprehensive, guided sightseeing and entrance fees per itinerary
• Active itinerary with unique cultural features

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Due to local events, holidays and site openings, the order of sightseeing may be changed. Details to be provided locally by Tour Manager.

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Your trip, your way, planned by an expert:.

• You choose budget, destinations, activities, transport & lodging type
• Expert designs the itinerary for you, and once approved, takes care of logistics

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Check Current Availability, prices, specials with Gate 1 Travel .

The total tour cost includes the tour price (regular or promotional) and the compulsory local payment. The promotional price is subject to change. Check directly with the operator for the latest price offer. The tour operator requires you to pay only the tour price to purchase your travel. The compulsory local payment will be paid when you join the trip. All prices are based on double, twin or triple share occupancy. Solo passengers will be accommodated in a double, twin or triple room according to availability with a passenger(s) of the same gender. Single supplement only needs to be paid if the passenger does not want to share and requests their own room. Discounts can only be applied at the time of booking and cannot be added at a later date, regardless of any changes made to the original booking.

Prices may vary due to local taxes and trip seasonality. Click "Request Info" to inquire directly with the tour operator for the final trip price.

Gate 1 Travel Reviews & Ratings

Other gate 1 travel reviews, gate 1 cares about money and not customer satisfaction or safety.

We have loved Gate 1 and always sing their praises. We've been on 7 tours with another one booked for fall. We were supposed to leave for Ecuador this week, however ...

THE ABSOLUTE WORST

THE ABSOLUTE WORST. Dishonest, incompetent, fraudulent. We booked a trip to Europe with them, and it was a mess from start to finish. The flight that we paid extra...

Joyce Toler

Poor customer service

It has been about 7.5 years since I traveled with Gate 1 Travel. In the past, customer service was exceptionally great! Now I am appauded with the unprofessional and...

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• Israel and Jordan...

Israel and Jordan with Gate One Tours - November 2019

We’re sitting at the Amman airport waiting to make the long trek home. And while I’d love to put long trip reports on this site, I spend a ton of time already blogging my trips and I can’t find a way to paste my blog detail into this site in a way that feels readable since my blog has so many pictures and discussions of those pictures.

However, requests for reviews of Gate One come up regularly on this site as do requests for reviews of Israel tours (Jordan comes up less often). So here’s a bit of detail. If you want funny and intensive detail of the trip, check my profile on this site.

Gate One in general - I’ve traveled with them twice now. (Japan and Israel/Jordan) I like them. For the two tours I took, the itineraries were jam-packed and fun. Not liking large groups, I opted for their smaller group tours (max 22-26) and felt it was an okay size for transiting around. I was the youngest person on the Israel tour at 51. The summer Japan tour had 4 teenagers.

Gate One hotels - We booked a Deluxe tour and we got high-end tourist hotels for all stops. In countries like Israel (and especially Jordan) a nicer hotel is a great respite from the chaos of the cities.

Safety - Israel - We arrived in Israel right in the middle of that flare-up of missile fire. It was actually quite intimidating to read about it as we waited for our flight at CDG. But Israel was right on top of things. Even though there had been missile sirens going off in Tel Aviv that day, the airport kept flights right on schedule. We were shown the bomb shelters for each of our hotels and given instructions about how to get there within 90 seconds. Again - a little intimidating but, in the end, despite the news that was showing up on CNN, people were going about their business in Tel Aviv.

Safety - Jordan - I was less worried about Jordan than I was about Israel. The biggest issue I noticed was super scary driving - about like Cairo, if you’ve been there. Two lane highways are used as four and five lane weaving tarmacs. We felt just fine wandering around on our own but, for some reason, when we went way south to the Wadi Rum area, a police officer joined our tour and remained with us all day.

Crossing from Israel to Jordan by land - I promised a couple of people that I would report on this. In the end, I found it confusing and I’m not sure I can accurately describe it. I know we approached the Allenby Crossing on our tour bus. We were stopped by guards who walked around the bus with mirrors, looking underneath. They waived us ahead and then we were stopped by some border guards. The asked our guide some questions and waived us forward. Then our bus parked and we all got off with our luggage. Our luggage was loaded onto a cart and we all went inside to Border Control. We cleared the Israel border here. Then we walked out some doors and we were in Jordan (or maybe a no-man’s land?) A bus awaited us here and we got on it. Some people brought our luggage over. We then drove forward for about 5 minutes and our bus was stopped again for a passport check (surely NOW we were definitely entering Jordan). And then we headed to our hotel. It took about 45 minutes total. I hear it can take MUCH longer.

I planned this trip to see Israel and then added Jordan on at the last minute. But it was Jordan that wowed me. I generally like somewhat chaotic Middle Eastern cities and so I came prepared to be charmed. But what blew me away were the two archaeological sites I saw here: Jerash and Petra. They’re worth the trek over here on their own.

The process at the border is just about the same as when we went from Lithuania to Russia. Never did make sense.

Thanks so much for the synopsis here and even more for your blog link! I love your reveal of Petra in that last post. Wow. It's not ever been a location that I've wanted to visit but that may have piqued my interest!

I love your sense of humor as well as the sobering moment regarding ajar apartment doors and the appalling moment with your tour mate at the Holocaust Memorial. Ugh.

I appreciate your assessment of Gate 1. I have not traveled with them but see people ask about them so am always curious.

Valerie, I always look forward to your trip reports. And once again this was a hit! Concise and informative. Of course, as usual I followed up on your detailed blog link. Several friends have visited both Isreal and Jordan. Between your review & others it is moving further up my list.

Thank you also for sharing your encounter with the tour mate. A disturbing exchange. This is an example why their is a need to educate. Let us never forget.

Last year we experienced a similar delay at the Bosnia-Herzegovina Croatia Border. It took about 45min. Our tour guide said it too can take longer.

Enjoyed your heartfelt reference honoring your mother and father at the Western Wall. Liked your sense of humor about the "camera seminar" with Ron. I can identify with that!

Thank you for sharing your photos of Halva. OMG, it's "Halva Heaven!" I love Halva.

Thanks! And now that you mention it, I forgot to discuss the food. I am a pretty picker eater and I have some food allergies. I had no trouble in Israel. Each hotel in Israel had a large gluten free section (not true for Jordan, though).

The halva, tahini, falafel, babka and hearth-fired pita was enough to fill me up most meals. Israel was a little easier than Jordan because in Jordan I ate no uncooked produce and drank no juice/ice. Numerous tour members who were eating salads etc in Jordan got sick our last couple of days.

Yad Vashem - the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem was unbelievably crowded. It easily merits 3 or 4 hours - we were only given two, with a guide, and we felt we missed a lot of it. I wondered if afternoons were less crowded but we had no scheduling choice.

And yes, Petra! There’s something about the chaos of Jordan, the garbage everywhere, the shepherds on the side of the road, the big buses...and you navigate your way through it all and start hiking into Petra. And then about 20 minutes later The Treasury comes into view and takes your breath away. Go to Petra!!!! And also - we arrived and started hiking at 7am. It was mostly empty. When we hiked out 5 hours later there were thousands and thousands and thousands of cruise ship passengers walking down. Go early. It actually opens at 6am.

I'll just comment on the border crossings. There are 3, north (Sheikh Hussein/Jordan River), center (Allenby Bridge) and south (Eilat/Aqaba). The only one I've never used is Allenby, but the procedure sounds the same as in the north.

There is indeed a short strip of land between the Israeli and Jordanian terminals at all 3 crossings. Tour buses can't use it (vehicles licensed in one country are not allowed to travel to the other one), so they shuttle passengers with a "special" bus. I think the luggage collection is just to make it easier on passengers - so you don't have to load/unload your luggage again. In the south, the only difference is that passengers walk across the "no man's land" so they take their luggage with them.

Valerie, you got to see the two top sights in Jordan and they are indeed worth a trip.

Thanks, Chani! I wanted to report on the crossings but I have no idea if that was helpful so your chime in is immensely appreciated.

We loved Israel, too, as you know. And it was extra special to get to meet you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Petra has always been a place I want to see and now even more. Thanks for the report.

My family of nine visited Jerusalem, Amman, Jordan, Petra, Wadi Rum and The Dead Sea November of 2018. We toured by ourselves and found the experience profoundly exciting, if you really don’t know for sure where you will be staying and when! I have to say, if I got to do it all over again, I would stay longer in Jerusalem and not include the confusing dynamic of border controls between the Jewish State and Jordan.

On the other hand, our stay in Jordan was superior to anywhere I have traveled, due to the amazing, cheerful hospitality and affordable choices in accommodations. DO NOT equate this country and Muslims with terrorists! You are safer there than in the United States. Their culture demands that if you are a guest, you will be protected as a member of their family. We made life long friends and long to return. I love Jordan! You will, too. Mary

We recently returned from a fabulous trip to Egypt and Jordan. We also liked Jordan a lot and will return there as we only saw Amman, Petra, Mr. Nebo , Mandaba, and Jerash. We were at The Treasury around 9am, and only a few other people were there. By afternoon, there were many more so we walked back to our hotel. There is even more to see in this country. It was so much more modern , as well as as expensive, than Egypt. Now I have an interest in visiting Israel which I never did before. And the food in Egypt and Jordan was so delicious and healthy.

Thanks for reporting on these two countries and on Gate One as I've previously read mixed reviews about them. We hope to visit these two places someday!

This topic has been automatically closed due to a period of inactivity.

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We thoroughly enjoyed Moscow - so modern and vibrant and so many things to see and do. Can't give enough accolades for the Metro system - clean, efficient, beautiful - and cheap. One-way ticket anywhere on the vast system cost about $.85!!!

Based on your help in booking and the trip itself, I am confident we will be looking into using Gate 1 Travel in the future.

> Based on _your_ help in booking and the trip itself, I am confident we will be looking into using _Gate_1_Travel_ in the future

Let me guess: Gate 1 gave you this link and asked you to write a review, and you think you're posting to the Gate 1 own web site now, right?

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The new crossing into Gaza where aid struggles to get in

Gate 96 is little more than a hole in Gaza's border fence.

Its rutted track leads away towards Gaza City; a bumpy lifeline, quickly lost in thick evening darkness.

When the UN accuses Israel of deliberately keeping aid flows at a trickle, Israel points to Gate 96 - one one of several new aid routes it has approved, along with airdrops, and a maritime corridor from Cyprus.

Along the border fence, seven lorries loaded with food aid are lined up and waiting to cross, their engines slowly turning beneath the occasional boom of artillery.

This new crossing point takes them directly into Gaza's desperate northern areas, and avoids a long and difficult drive through the conflict zone.

But with the UN warning that northern Gaza is weeks away from famine, international demands to ramp up the amount of aid are getting more insistent.

Israel says it has facilitated over 350 aid trucks into northern Gaza over the past month. Aid agencies say the territory as a whole needs 500 a day.

"The bottleneck of this chain does not lie with the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]," said Colonel Moshe Tetro, head of the army's Coordination and Liaison Administration, which handles approvals for aid convoys.

He told the BBC that the army's job was to "facilitate the entrance of humanitarian aid into Gaza" and that the hold-ups lay with the logistical ability of aid agencies to distribute it on the other side.

He pointed to the trucks waiting to cross, saying the evidence was right in front of us. Twenty trucks had been approved to cross that night, he said, but only seven showed up.

"We took a lot of measures to enlarge the amount of humanitarian aid," he said. "But the UN and other international organisations have some bottlenecks regarding the amount of trucks, amount of truck drivers, manpower, working hours…"

Matthew Hollingworth, country director of the World Food Programme (WFP), was on one of the trucks idling by the border fence that night. He told the BBC there was a specific reason why the WFP had not been able to provide all 20 vehicles.

"On this particular convoy, we were given a limit of 15 vetted drivers by the IDF that were cleared to use this route, but only seven were available to us", he said.

Some of the approved drivers had gone to Gaza City the previous day, and were stuck there, he said. Even driving an empty lorry back through Gaza needs Israeli army approval.

"We need 50, 60, 70, 80 truck drivers cleared to use these routes every single day," he said. "We need more entry points to northern Gaza and Gaza City, and we need early approvals so that we can run multiple convoys every single day."

Israel is keen to show the world it's allowing more aid into Gaza - but says it's not responsible for the amount of aid actually going in, or the ability of agencies to distribute it on the ground.

International law says different: that Israel has a duty, not just to open the gates, but to use all means available to it to get food and medicine to the people under its control.

Col Tetro tells me there is no shortage of food in Gaza, and that if Hamas wants to the change the situation there, they should end the war.

Asked about the warnings of famine, and images of acutely malnourished children in Gaza's hospitals, he repeated the same phrases, again and again.

"There is no starvation in Gaza," he said. "There is no shortage of food."

On Sunday, Gaza's main relief agency, Unrwa, said Israel had banned it from delivering any more food to northern Gaza.

Israel says the agency is linked to Hamas, and that it would continue to work with organisations that "are not involved in terror".

Unrwa's director, Philippe Lazzarini, said the ban was "outrageous" and accused Israel of intentionally obstructing aid.

The agency recently tried to restart convoys after a two month pause, which began when one of its lorries was shelled during a delivery in January.

At Gate 96, army vehicles buzz around the convoy, before the crossing point opens and the trucks move off into the night.

This slim channel between Israel and Gaza crossed only by aid and army; bringing food and war, life and death.

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Gate1 Travel to Israel and Jordan - 14 days - Israel Forum

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We are planning a trip in early December with Gate 1 Travel. How is the weather then.

Gate 1 gets good reviews. However one of the ways they keep their price low is by having free days with optional tours.

I tried to find an itinerary of their 14 day tour but could only find an overview. If you have a link to an itinerary we could suggest which optional tours really aren't optional.

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Middle East Crisis Israel Will Expand Civilian ‘Safe Zone’ if It Invades Crowded Gazan City, Official Says

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• Damage and destruction in northern Gaza, seen from a bicycle. By Reuters
• An aid airdrop over the northern Gaza Strip. Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
• Families and supporters of hostages held in Gaza protesting in Tel Aviv. Abir Sultan/EPA, via Shutterstock
• Children lining up for food in Jabaliya, in northern Gaza. By Reuters
• Palestinians watch fishermen returning from sea in Rafah, in southern Gaza. Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
• A Palestinian woman marking unidentified bodies at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
• A sign supporting the hostages in Tel Aviv. Hannah Mckay/Reuters
• Destroyed buildings in Khan Younis. Mohammed Saber/EPA, via Shutterstock

An official offers a hint of Israel’s plans for civilians if it invades Rafah.

An Israeli military official has said that if an invasion were to begin in the southern Gaza city Rafah, where a million displaced Palestinians are sheltering, an Israeli-designated “humanitarian zone” along the coast would be expanded to take in more civilians.

The comments are among the first indications of the Israeli military’s plans for civilians in case of a major ground maneuver in Rafah, which the Biden administration has urged Israel to forgo because of the risks it would pose to displaced Palestinians.

Palestinians who have sought shelter in Rafah have been bracing for an Israeli incursion for months, huddling in crowded tents, schools and apartments. Many have followed Israeli calls to evacuate only to encounter bombardment in those places too.

Israeli officials have repeatedly said that the army will enter Rafah to fight Hamas battalions there, bucking international pressure to back off any operation.

In the case of an invasion, Israel would tell Palestinians to go to the enlarged “humanitarian zone,” which would include a narrow strip of beachside land known as Al-Mawasi , and other unidentified areas in Gaza, said the military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, on Monday evening.

It was unclear how much land beyond Al-Mawasi Israel would seek to designate as a “humanitarian zone” for civilians. Satellite imagery from Planet Labs revealed a significant increase in the number of people in Al-Mawasi over the last few months: An aerial image from Sunday shows tent encampments occupying land that had been empty in mid-January.

Sandra Rasheed, the director of the Jerusalem office of Anera, a relief group, said Israel hadn’t told it of an imminent operation in Rafah, but the organization had located a shelter for its staff members and their families to relocate to in Al-Mawasi. United Nations officials also said they hadn’t been informed by Israel of an impending invasion.

The western edge of Rafah’s built-up area is near Al-Mawasi’s southern border, and around two and a half miles from its center.

Israel’s military first said Gaza’s residents should move to Al-Mawasi in mid-October. It reiterated that demand in December when it issued evacuation orders for the nearby city of Khan Younis and told residents to head to Al-Mawasi and some areas in Rafah.

Satellite imagery also appeared to show a new cluster of hundreds of tents being built west of Khan Younis. Imagery taken on Thursday showed more than 100 tents in the area, while imagery captured on Sunday showed more than 400 in the complex.

Location of

Israel has come under increasing international pressure to allow more aid to enter Gaza. The official did not say how much more aid would be brought to Al-Mawasi. Mohammed al-Hassi, 48, a medic sheltering in Al-Mawasi, said the area was overflowing with displaced people, and worried another influx would make conditions worse.

“There aren’t enough bathrooms, there isn’t enough clean water, and there isn’t enough space,” he said. “The existing infrastructure can barely handle the number of people already here.”

Rafah is on the border with Egypt, but with Egypt allowing hardly any Gazans to enter, there are few clear options for moving large numbers of civilians out of the city. Earlier this month, Jamie McGoldrick, then a senior U.N. humanitarian official in Jerusalem, said that an Israeli invasion of Rafah could force hundreds of thousands of people to try to flee for points north, a risky journey across bombed-out roads littered with unexploded ordnance.

The Biden administration has repeatedly urged Israel to hold off on a major military assault on Rafah, including in a virtual meeting last week . During that meeting, the American side evaluated options for the attack presented by Israel but was not convinced that those plans met Mr. Biden’s insistence that any operation be calibrated to minimize civilian casualties, according to a White House statement .

Israel has frequently encouraged Palestinians to seek shelter in Al-Mawasi, but the area has been struck by the Israeli army several times, according to Palestinians in the area. Israel has accused militants of firing rockets from Al-Mawasi.

“There’s no safe place,” Mr. Hassi said. “I’m someone with no hostility toward Israel or anyone in the world, but I can’t guarantee that the building, the land, or the car I’m next to won’t be targeted.”

In Rafah, Rajab al-Sindawi, a secondhand clothing salesman who fled there from Gaza City in the north, said he was feeling anxious as he, his wife and seven children squeezed into a small tent on a sidewalk.

“The people are all waiting to hear how they will move us,” he said.

Lauren Leatherby contributed reporting to this article.

— Adam Rasgon reporting from Jerusalem

The U.N. calls for an inquiry after mass graves are found at two Gaza hospitals.

The United Nations’ human rights office on Tuesday called for an independent investigation into two mass graves found after Israeli forces withdrew from hospitals in Gaza, including one discovered days ago over which Israeli and Palestinian authorities offered differing accounts.

Palestinian Civil Defense said over the weekend that it had found a mass grave containing 283 bodies on the grounds of Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, two weeks after a similar mass grave was found at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

Mahmoud Basal, a spokesman for Palestinian Civil Defense, an emergency services organization, said some of the bodies found in Khan Younis were handcuffed, shot in the head or wearing detainee uniforms. He accused Israeli forces of killing and burying them. Israel’s military declined to address those claims on Tuesday, and they could not be independently verified.

On Tuesday, hours after the top U.N. human rights official called for an inquiry into the mass graves, the Israeli military said that its forces had exhumed bodies that were buried by Palestinians “in the area” of Nasser Hospital and examined them as part of an effort to locate hostages. It did not comment on the report of the mass grave at Al-Shifa.

The Israeli military declined to say how many bodies troops had exhumed and reburied, how they died or whether the remains of any hostages had been found at the site. It also did not say how the bodies had been examined to determine if they were those of Israeli hostages.

“The examination was carried out respectfully while maintaining the dignity of the deceased,” the statement said. “Bodies examined, which did not belong to Israeli hostages, were returned to their place.”

It was not clear where the people discovered in the mass grave were originally buried. But wartime chaos in Gaza has made it common for Palestinians to bury the dead in mass graves or in courtyards and back gardens in a hurried way that might be unthinkable in times of peace.

In January, an official at Nasser told journalists that hospital workers had buried about 150 people in the hospital yard because nearby fighting had made it too dangerous to travel to a cemetery.

In addition to the grave at Nasser Hospital, a mass grave was reported to have been discovered at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City after an Israeli military operation there. The U.N. human rights office said on Tuesday that the Gaza government had reported that 30 more bodies were found in two graves there, 12 of which had been identified. The office said it could not confirm the accounts.

The U.N. human rights chief, Volker Türk, said on Tuesday that an international investigation into the mass graves, not an Israeli one, was needed “given the prevailing climate of impunity.”

“We feel the need to raise the alarm because clearly there have been multiple bodies discovered,” said Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for Mr. Türk.

The Israeli military raided Nasser Hospital on Feb. 15 to stop what it said was Hamas activity, after ordering the hundreds of displaced people sheltering there to evacuate.

Although the military left the hospital in February, Israeli troops continued to operate in the Khan Younis area before withdrawing from southern Gaza earlier this month , leaving behind widespread destruction. The withdrawal allowed Palestinian emergency services to begin searching for bodies of missing Palestinians.

Doctors at the hospital and the Gazan Health Ministry had said that some people who tried to flee the Nasser compound during the Israeli raid were shot at by Israeli soldiers , with some being killed or wounded. At the time, the Israeli military said in response that it had “opened a secure route” to evacuate the civilians in the area but did not respond to questions about reports that it had shot at Palestinians trying to leave the hospital.

Iyad Abuheweila contributed reporting from Istanbul, Nader Ibrahim from London and Johnatan Reiss from Tel Aviv.

— Liam Stack ,  Hiba Yazbek and Nick Cumming-Bruce reporting from Jerusalem and Geneva

Maps: Tracking the Attacks in Israel and Gaza

See where Israel has bulldozed vast areas of Gaza, as its invasion continues to advance south.

Jewish protesters in New York assail Schumer for military support of Israel.

Pro-palestinian jewish groups rally near schumer’s brooklyn home, approximately 200 people were arrested after protesting one block away from the home of senator chuck schumer of new york..

Crowd: “Let Gaza live! Let Gaza live! “Senator Schumer, your Jewish constituents and the vast majority of the U.S. demands stop arming Israel.” “Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest. Disclose, divest.” “Let Gaza live, let Gaza live.”

As Senator Chuck Schumer of New York prepared for a final vote to pass an aid package that would provide $26 billion to Israel and billions more to Ukraine and Taiwan, approximately 200 protesters were arrested, according to the police, after blocking traffic in his Brooklyn neighborhood on the second night of Passover to call for an end to the United States’ military support of Israel.

Though Mr. Schumer, the Democratic majority leader, was in Washington, demonstrators rallied on Tuesday in Grand Army Plaza, one block away from his Brooklyn home, a common site of protests since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war. As the sun set, hundreds of people gathered around a circular banner representing a Seder plate, which included the words “Jews say stop arming Israel” alongside images of foods eaten during the Seder meal.

“This will not be a Seder as usual. These are not usual times,” Morgan Bassichis, a member of the progressive group Jewish Voice for Peace, said to attendees.

After a series of speakers addressed the rally, a large portion of the crowd moved into the street between the north edge of Prospect Park and the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial Arch, blocking the flow of traffic and prompting drivers to lean on their horns. Police officers who had been monitoring the event warned the demonstrators that they would be arrested if they did not move; when they stayed put, officers wielding zip-tie handcuffs moved in and began making arrests. Roughly 200 protesters, some wearing reflective vests over black T-shirts that read “Jews Say Cease Fire Now,” were led away in pairs.

The protest, organized by pro-Palestinian Jewish groups, marked what has been a distinctly different Passover celebration for Jewish people in New York City and beyond, as college campuses and family dinner tables feel the ripple effects of the Israel-Hamas war.

Stefanie Fox, executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace, said the protest was held during Passover in order to send a message to Mr. Schumer as the Senate moved toward a final vote on aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. Roughly $9 billion of that $95 billion package is dedicated to “worldwide humanitarian aid,” including for civilians in Gaza. (The package later passed in a 79-to-18 vote .)

“Everything in our tradition compels us to bring everything we have to stopping these historic atrocities being done in our names and with our tax dollars,” Ms. Fox said in an interview on Monday.

Mr. Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the United States, recently called for elections to replace Benjamin Netanyahu , the Israeli prime minister, once the war winds down. His rebuke of the Jewish state’s leader last month — in a speech in which he also spoke of his love for the state of Israel and his horror at the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7 — exposed the widening gap between Israel and the United States, its most important ally, analysts said.

“Senator Schumer just very recently spoke very harshly about Prime Minister Netanyahu on the Senate floor,” Beth Miller, the political director for Jewish Voice for Peace, said at the protest on Tuesday. “For him to do that with one hand, and then on the other hand reward Prime Minister Netanyahu by pushing forward this military funding package, shows that he is not serious about actually shifting U.S. policy to leverage change.”

One attendee, Calvin Harrison, 29, a community organizer who lives in Manhattan, said he was at Grand Army Plaza “because I’m a Jew and I was raised to believe that Judaism is about justice.”

“Passover is a celebration of liberation for the future,” he went on. “We can’t celebrate liberation for ourselves while we’re oppressing Palestinians.”

— Camille Baker and Claire Fahy

Israel carries out airstrikes and orders new evacuations in parts of Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it had carried out several airstrikes in Beit Lahia, one of the northernmost cities in the Gaza Strip, as Palestinians under orders to “immediately” leave parts of the city scrambled to find safety.

The Israeli strikes killed at least one person and injured several others in Beit Lahia and damaged and set fire to several houses in nearby Gaza City, according to Wafa, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency. The strikes were carried out in response to rockets launched from the area toward southern Israel, all of which were successfully intercepted, the military said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, a spokesman for the Israeli military, had issued an “urgent warning” to residents to immediately leave some neighborhoods in Beit Lahia for “known shelters” elsewhere in the city.

“You are in a dangerous combat zone,” Colonel Adraee wrote in Arabic on social media . The Israeli military, he added, intended to use “extreme force against terrorist infrastructure and subversive elements in the region.”

The announcement was the latest in a series of confusing and often impracticable evacuation orders that the Israeli military has issued to civilians in northern Gaza, who are on the brink of famine and hemmed in by roads and buildings heavily damaged by Israeli bombardment.

The Israeli military has often issued warnings like the one on Tuesday just before a raid by ground troops. It announced nearly four months ago that it was moving its troops out of northern Gaza because Hamas no longer controlled those areas. But in recent weeks, Israeli forces have returned to mount ground operations in several parts of the North where the military said Hamas fighters had resurfaced, including the Al-Shifa Hospital complex.

The Israeli military said its airstrikes in northern Gaza on Tuesday had targeted the launch sites of rockets fired earlier that morning toward the city of Sderot and the kibbutz of Zikim in southern Israel, as well as “additional targets” including “military structures and a launcher containing rockets that were ready to fire toward Israel.”

The military also released footage in which one of its airstrikes appeared to hit the Al-Siddiqin Mosque in Beit Lahia, a move the military claimed was intended to destroy an “operational tunnel shaft.”

Multiple human rights watchdogs, including the United Nations human rights office, Amnesty International and the research group Forensic Architecture, have said that evacuation orders Israel has issued in Gaza could amount to the forcible displacement of civilians and could violate international law.

A study released last month by Forensic Architecture found that the orders repeatedly directed displaced civilians to parts of Gaza that lacked the “essentials for survival” required by international law, and where the civilians often still came under direct attacks by the Israeli military.

While the Israeli military has said that its evacuation orders are part of a humanitarian effort, the study said they have instead “served to facilitate what numerous international experts have called Israel’s genocidal actions.”

Aric Toler and Johnatan Reiss contributed reporting.

— Anushka Patil

A review of UNRWA prompts new calls to restore its funding.

U.N. officials and some donor nations are renewing calls to revive funding for the main U.N. agency aiding Palestinians, after a review found that Israel had not provided evidence to support its claim that many employees of the agency are members of terrorist organizations.

More than a dozen countries, including the United States, suspended funding to the agency, known as UNRWA, after Israel claimed in January that a dozen agency employees had participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks or their aftermath, and that one in 10 staff members in Gaza was a member of Hamas or its ally, Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The United Nations had commissioned an independent review of the agency in January , before Israel circulated its claims, but those charges gave added significance to the inquiry, whose findings were released on Monday. The report issued a series of recommendations for the agency to protect its neutrality, but said that “Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence” for its accusation that a significant number of agency employees are members of terrorist organizations.

The review did not address Israel’s accusation that 12 of the agency’s 13,000 employees in Gaza had participated in the Oct. 7 attack or its aftermath, a claim that the United Nations says remains under internal investigation. The United Nations has fired 10 of the 12 employees accused by Israel.

Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for the U.N. secretary general, António Guterres, said on Monday that Mr. Guterres had accepted the report’s recommendations and appealed for donors “to actively support UNRWA, as it is a lifeline for Palestine refugees in the region.”

Caroline Gennez, the minister of development for Belgium, which did not cut off funding to the agency, said that the report showed that UNRWA had “always acted adequately.”

“I call on all donors to resume their support,” she wrote on social media . “Now.”

Ireland’s foreign minister, Micheál Martin, was quoted by the national broadcaster , RTÉ, as saying that he hoped that some countries that had suspended support would now resume it. Ireland, which has strongly condemned Israel’s campaign in Gaza, increased aid to UNRWA as other countries were cutting it, he noted.

“We were very clear from the word go that you could not replace or undermine UNRWA’s role in terms of giving vital aid, teaching, education,” he said.

Among the more than a dozen countries that suspended payments over Israel’s accusations, several — including Australia, Canada and Japan — have already resumed funding UNRWA, citing the spiraling humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and steps taken by the agency to improve accountability.

The United States has said it would wait for the results of U.N. investigations before deciding whether to resume donations to UNRWA. Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesman, told reporters on Monday that the Biden administration was reviewing the U.N.-commissioned report and had no assessment yet of its conclusions.

“Certainly, we welcome the fact that the secretary general has accepted the recommendations,” Mr. Miller said, adding that the United States had “long made clear that there needs to be reforms at UNRWA.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for UNRWA to be closed and replaced “with responsible international aid agencies.” Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Monday called on donor countries to avoid sending money to the organization.

UNRWA has argued that Israel has targeted it with a “deliberate and concerted campaign” to undermine its operations when its services are most needed.

The European Union, one of the largest donors to UNRWA, announced in March that it was substantially increasing funds to the agency, saying that Palestinians were facing terrible conditions and should not be made to pay for Hamas’s crimes.

— Patrick Kingsley and Matt Surman

Hezbollah claims a drone attack 10 miles inside Israel.

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on Tuesday claimed that it had made its deepest attack into Israel since October, striking a barracks north of the city of Acre with drones and setting off sirens across the country’s northern coastline.

The Israeli military, however, said that no bases had been hit and no casualties reported, adding that three drones had been identified and intercepted.

Hezbollah, Iran’s most powerful regional proxy, has been engaged in escalating cross-border strikes with Israeli forces since the war in Gaza began more than six months ago. In the latest strike, it maintained it had launched a drone attack on an Israeli military barracks roughly 10 miles from the Lebanese border.

Footage that circulated Tuesday on Hezbollah-affiliated Telegram channels, and geolocated by The New York Times, shows people on a beach in Acre looking up at the sky as sirens go off and an explosion is heard.

The drone attack in Israel came after targeted killings by Israel of two Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon, both of whom the Israeli military claimed were involved in Hezbollah’s aerial operations. The killings overnight and on Tuesday were the latest in a string of assassinations of Hezbollah commanders and fighters, as the Lebanese militant group increasingly employs self-detonating drones to target Israeli military sites.

After the drone attack, an Israeli strike on a house in the southern Lebanese town of Hanin killed at least two people, one of them a child, according to Lebanon’s state news agency. The Israeli military said that fighter jets had targeted “military structures” in the area where Hezbollah were operating, according to a statement.

Last week, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a drone and missile attack into northern Israel that left one soldier dead and 16 soldiers and two civilians injured, in one of the group’s most damaging attacks in Israel in recent months.

Hwaida Saad , Johnatan Reiss and Arijeta Lajka contributed reporting.

— Euan Ward Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon

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The Russian defence ministry said on Friday that its air defence forces destroyed six drones that Ukraine launched overnight.