Israel Gaza: UN warns that attack on Rafah could lead to “massacre”

A senior United Nations official warned that the Israeli attack on the city of Rafah, the southernmost city of the Gaza Strip, could lead to a “massacre.”

Humanitarian Coordinator Martin Griffiths said that Palestinians in Gaza are already suffering from “an attack unparalleled in its intensity, brutality and scope.”

He added that the consequences of invading Rafah would be “catastrophic.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to defeat Hamas militants who he says are hiding in the city.

In an unusually strong statement, Griffiths said that more than a million people were “crammed in Rafah, looking death in the face.” He added that civilians in the city have little food or medicine and “no place safe to go.”

He added that the Israeli invasion of the city “will leave the already fragile humanitarian operation on the verge of death.”

A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told BBC NewsHour that the UN had not received any plans to evacuate Rafah from Israel and would not participate in any forced evacuation.

Stephane Dujarric said: “The United Nations will not be a party to any forced displacement of people.”

Rafah is a small city in the south of the Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt. Before the war, it was inhabited by about 250,000 people, but since Israel ordered civilians to evacuate the south, its population has swelled to an estimated 1.5 million people.

Many are living in tents in desperate conditions and say they have nowhere to go.

Rafah has been subjected to intense Israeli air strikes in recent days, killing at least 67 people there on Monday, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.

Mr Griffiths also said humanitarian workers working in Gaza had been “shot at, held at gunpoint, attacked and killed” due to the breakdown of law and order.

Senior officials from the United States, Israel, Egypt and Qatar met on Tuesday, as pressure mounted on Israel from the international community not to invade Rafah.

Guterres expressed his hope that the talks would succeed in avoiding an Israeli attack on the city.

US President Joe Biden warned Israel of the need to protect civilians. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron called on Israel to “stop and think seriously” before attacking Rafah.

At least 1,200 people were killed during attacks by Hamas-led militants in Israel on October 7 last year.

In response, Israel launched a military campaign in the Gaza Strip. More than 28,400 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed and more than 68,000 others injured since the war began, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.