Geneva. Switzerland
Reuters
An Israeli incursion in Rafah would put the lives of hundreds of thousands of Gazans at risk and be a huge blow to the aid operations of the entire enclave, the UN humanitarian office said on Friday, as the World Health Organization announced contingency plans for an incursion.
Israel has repeatedly warned of an operation against Hamas in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where around a million displaced people are crowded together, having fled months of Israeli bombardments triggered by Hamas fighters’ deadly cross-border attack on 7th October.
A person stands inside a building, damaged in an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on 3rd May, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Hatem Khaled
“It 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,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office (OCHA), at a Geneva press briefing.
Israel has said it will work to ensure the safe evacuation of civilians from Rafah. The United States has long said it cannot support an assault on Rafah by its ally Israel unless there is a comprehensive plan to protect civilians.
Israel has given Washington some preliminary information, said a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, but “we haven’t seen a full plan, nothing that would give us the confidence we’re looking for.”
A second US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Israeli proposal outlining the provision of shelter, food and evacuation routes “needs more work.”
Aid operations in Rafah include medical clinics, warehouses stocked with humanitarian supplies, food distribution points and 50 centres for acutely malnourished children, Laerke said.
OCHA would do everything possible to ensure aid operations continued, even in the event of an incursion, and was studying how to do that, he added.
A World Health Organization official said at the same briefing that a contingency plan for Rafah 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.
Already, more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in nearly seven months of conflict, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
“I want to really say that this contingency plan is a band-aid,” said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the occupied Palestinian territory via video link. “It will absolutely not prevent the expected substantial additional mortality and morbidity caused by a military operation.”
Other preparations include pre-positioning medical supplies at hospitals further north in case Rafah’s three hospitals become non-functional, as has happened multiple times in the seven-month conflict due to Israeli raids and bombings.
WHO data shows that just a third of the strip’s 36 pre-war hospital are partially operational. Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals for military purposes and says its operations against them have been justified by the presence of fighters. Hamas and medical staff deny the allegations.
People stand next to a house damaged in an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on 3rd May, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Hatem Khaled
Peeperkorn added that he was “extremely concerned” that any incursion would close the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt which is currently being used to import medical supplies.
“We are pushing and lobbying that, whatever happens, that it remains open,” he added, saying WHO had raised this issue with Israeli authorities.
Meanwhile, Hamas said on Friday it was sending a delegation to Cairo to discuss a deal for a truce and the release of hostages in Gaza, hours after US CIA Director William Burns arrived in the Egyptian capital, according to Egyptian sources.
Egypt, along with Qatar and the United States, has been leading efforts to mediate between Israel and Hamas to broker a deal for a ceasefire in the conflict that began on 7th October.
The Hamas and CIA officials will meet Egyptian mediators on Saturday, an Egyptian security source said, though it was unclear whether they would meet separately or together.
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Hamas said its delegates were traveling to Cairo in a “positive spirit” after studying the latest proposal for a truce agreement.
“We are determined to secure an agreement in a way that fulfils Palestinians’ demands,” the Palestinian militant group said in a statement.
A US official said the United States believed there had been some progress in talks but was still waiting to hear more.
The CIA declined to comment, reflecting its policy of not disclosing the director’s travel.
Ceasefire talks have continued for months without a decisive breakthrough. Israel has said it is determined to eliminate Hamas, while Hamas says it wants a permanent ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Egypt made a renewed push to revive negotiations late last month. Cairo is alarmed by the prospect of an Israeli ground operation against Hamas in Rafah in southern Gaza, where more than 1 million people have taken shelter near the border with Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
Egyptian sources say both sides have made some concessions recently, leading to progress in the talks, though Israel has continued to say an operation in Rafah is imminent.
– Additional reporting by STEVE HOLLAND and JONATHAN LANDAY in Washington DC, US, and ABDEL NASSER ABOUL FADL in Cairo, Egypt.
