2024-05-08 14:35:39
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Israel and Hamas to make every effort to reach a truce and stressed that a possible offensive in Rafah would be a “strategic mistake, a political disaster and a humanitarian nightmare,” Reuters reported.
“I am upset and worried about the renewed military activity in Rafah,” Guterres added to the media. “The closing of the Rafah and Kerem Shalom checkpoints exacerbates an already dire humanitarian situation. They must be opened immediately.”
For its part, the Islamist movement “Hamas” described Israel’s capture of the Rafah checkpoint as a “dangerous escalation” against civilian infrastructure protected under international law,” DPA reported. The statement added that the military action would worsen humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and will prevent the delivery of aid.
Palestinians in Gaza “are being subjected to a war of extermination and systematic starvation” by Israel, the Islamist movement said, calling Israel a “Nazi occupation force”, BTA reported.
This “confirms the intention of the occupying power to hinder efforts to negotiate a truce and release prisoners,” Hamas added.
The statement also called on the US and the international community to put pressure on Israel to end the escalation, which the Islamist movement says threatens the lives of hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians in Rafah and across the Gaza Strip.
UN humanitarian agencies have also condemned the UN’s entry into Rafah, DPA notes. The spokeswoman for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Ravina Shamdasani stressed that civilians ordered to evacuate do not have safe routes to the north, safe shelters, food and sanitary materials.
These are the basic humanitarian requirements for evacuation, she emphasized at a press conference in Geneva.
“There are strong indications that this is being done in violation of international humanitarian law,” she stressed.
“This morning is one of the darkest in this seven-month nightmare,” said Jens Lehrke, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. He stressed that Israeli forces have ignored all warnings about the impact of the Rafah offensive on the civilian population.
“Our worst fears seem to be coming true,” UNICEF spokesman James Elder said.