Israel has ordered new evacuations in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah. That's forcing tens of thousands more people to move as the military prepares to expand its operation closer to the heavily populated central area in defiance of growing pressure from close ally the United States and others. Israel’s military also says it is moving into an area of devastated northern Gaza where it asserts that the Hamas militant group has regrouped. Israel has now evacuated the eastern third of Rafah, considered the last refuge in Gaza. The expanding operation has badly affected the operations of the main aid entry points.

The Russian Defense Ministry says that Moscow’s forces have captured five villages as part of a renewed ground assault in northeastern Ukraine. The ministry made the statement on Saturday. Ukrainian officials haven’t officially confirmed whether Russian had taken the villages. They lie in a contested “gray zone” on the border of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and Russia. Ukrainian journalists reported that four villages were taken by Russian troops on Friday. Russia said a fifth village was also taken. The Institute for the Study of War said Friday that geolocated footage confirms at least one of the villages was seized. The Washington-based think tank described recent Russian gains as “tactically significant.”

The Netherlands’ contestant in the Eurovision Song Contest has been dramatically expelled from competition. The move came hours before Saturday’s final. The backstage incident is being investigated by police. Organizer the European Broadcasting Union said Swedish police were investigating “a complaint made by a female member of the production crew.” Joost Klein had failed to perform at two dress rehearsals on Friday. The expulsion adds more drama to an event that pits nations against one another for pop music glory. It also has attracted large protests from Palestinians and their supporters. They say Israel should be excluded because of its conduct of the war against Hamas.

The U.N. food agency says more than 300 Afghans have died in flash floods that also destroyed more than 1,000 houses in the northern province of Baghlan. The World Food Program said Saturday it was distributing fortified biscuits to the survivors of one of the many floods that hit Afghanistan over the last few weeks following unusually heavy rainfall. Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesman for the Taliban government, posted on the social media platform X that hundreds have succumbed to the calamitous floods, while a substantial number have sustained injuries.