A TOP UN official has warned an Israeli assault on Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, could lead to a “slaughter”.
Humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said Palestinians in Gaza were already suffering an “assault that is unparalleled in its intensity, brutality and scope”.
The consequences of an invasion of Rafah would be “catastrophic”, he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to defeat Hamas gunmen he says are hiding in the city.
In an unusually strongly worded statement, Mr Griffiths said over a million people were “crammed in Rafah, staring death in the face”. He said civilians in the city had little food or access to medicine and “nowhere safe to go”.
An Israeli invasion of the city, he added, would “leave an already fragile humanitarian operation at death’s door”.
A spokesperson for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the BBC’s Newshour programme the UN had not received any Rafah evacuation plans from Israel and would not participate in any forced evacuation.
Stephane Dujarric said: “The United Nations will not be 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 home to around 250,000 people, but since Israel ordered civilians to evacuate south its population has swelled to an estimated 1.5 million.
Many are living in tents in desperate conditions and say they have nowhere to go.
Rafah has come under heavy Israeli air strikes in recent days, with at least 67 people killed there on Monday according to the health ministry.
