An Israeli incursion in Rafah would put the lives of hundreds of thousands of Gazans at risk and be a huge blow to the humanitarian operations of the entire enclave, the U.N. humanitarian office said on Friday.
\nIsrael has warned of an operation against Hamas in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where around a million displaced people are crowded together in shelters and makeshift accommodation, having fled months of Israeli bombardments triggered by Hamas fighters\u2019 deadly cross-border attack on Oct. 7.
\n\u201cIt could be a slaughter of civilians and an incredible blow to the humanitarian operation in the entire strip because it is run primarily out of Rafah,\u201d said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the U.N. humanitarian office, at a Geneva press briefing.
\nAid operations run from Rafah included medical clinics and food distribution points, including centres for malnourished children, he said.
\nA World Health Organization official said at the same briefing that a contingency plan for an incursion had been prepared, which included a new field hospital, but said it would not be enough to prevent a substantial rise in the death toll.
\n\u201cI want to really say that this contingency plan is a band-aid,\u201d said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the occupied Palestinian territory via video link. \u201cIt will absolutely not prevent the expected substantial additional mortality and morbidity posed by a military operation.\u201d
\nHe added that he was \u201cextremely concerned\u201d that any incursion would close the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt which is currently being used to import medical supplies.
\n(Reuters)shelters. Israeli incursion, Rafah, humanitarian operations<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An Israeli incursion in Rafah would endanger the lives of hundreds of thousands of Gazans and severely impact humanitarian operations in the enclave. Israel has warned of an operation against Hamas in Rafah, where displaced people are living in shelters. The U.N. humanitarian office expressed concerns about a potential civilian slaughter and disruption of aid operations, including medical clinics and food distribution. The World Health Organization has prepared a contingency plan, but it may not prevent a significant increase in casualties. Additionally, there are worries that an incursion could close the Rafah crossing, hindering the import of medical supplies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":10633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1447,122,383,7129,3722,5292,5334,2577,2692,8785,2083,2259,4382,145,298,210,156,1235,8850,7905,1823,299,8849,2569,3504,4593,4371,345,837,928,4054,114,414,2389,293,6305,18],"class_list":["post-10632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-accommodation","tag-aid","tag-attack","tag-border","tag-casualties","tag-children","tag-civilians","tag-concerns","tag-death","tag-death-toll","tag-disruption","tag-egypt","tag-food","tag-gaza","tag-hamas","tag-health","tag-hospital","tag-humanitarian","tag-humanitarian-operations","tag-impact","tag-increase","tag-israel","tag-israeli-incursion","tag-malnourished-children","tag-military","tag-office","tag-operation","tag-palestine","tag-rafah","tag-rik","tag-risk","tag-top-news","tag-un","tag-video","tag-war","tag-who","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n