On Tuesday, the United Nations warned that an Israeli attack on Rafah in the Gaza Strip was on the immediate horizon and that Israel’s incremental gains on aid access to the enclave must not be used to prepare for or justify such an operation.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged states with influence over Israel to do everything in their power to avert an Israeli assault on Rafah in southern Gaza, where over 1.2 million displaced Gaza Palestinians are sheltering.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Tuesday to carry out a long-promised attack, regardless of Hamas’ response to the latest proposals for a pause to hostilities in the almost seven-month-long war and the release of Israeli hostages.
In a statement, Martin Griffiths, UN aid chief said, “The world has been appealing to the Israeli authorities for weeks to spare Rafah, but a ground operation there is on the immediate horizon”.
“The simplest truth is that a ground operation in Rafah will be nothing short of a tragedy beyond words”, Griffiths continued.
Israel pledged about a month ago to improve aid access to the enclave of 2.3 million people after US President Joe Biden requested actions to alleviate the humanitarian crisis, threatening to impose limits on support if Israel did not act.
Guterres stated that there had been incremental progress toward averting an entirely preventable, human-made famine in northern Gaza, but much more was urgently needed.
“These improvements in bringing more aid into Gaza cannot be used to prepare for or justify a full-blown military assault on Rafah”, Griffiths added.
Guterres explicitly urged Israel to fulfill its promise to open two crossings to the north.
Guterres went on to say, “A major obstacle to distributing aid across Gaza is the lack of security for humanitarians and the people we serve”.
“Humanitarian convoys, facilities and personnel, and the people in need must not be targets”, Guterres urged.
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