The prospect of a “real” offensive by the Israeli army in Rafah, in the far south of the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are refugees, is “terrifying”, said the High Commissioner of the UN for human rights.
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“Given the carnage that has taken place so far in Gaza, we can only imagine what will happen in Rafah,” Volker Türk said in a statement.
“The possibility of a full-blown military incursion into Rafah – where some 1.5 million Palestinians are crowded against the Egyptian border with nowhere to escape – is terrifying,” he said, stressing “the prospect that extremely high numbers of civilians, again primarily children and women, are likely to be killed and injured.”
The war was sparked on October 7 by an unprecedented attack by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza into southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to a count by the AFP produced from official Israeli data.
The Israeli offensive left 28,340 dead in the Gaza Strip, the vast majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also expressed concern about the impact of an offensive in Rafah on the humanitarian aid on which the Palestinians depend.
“This incursion into Rafah could also mean an end to the meager humanitarian aid coming in and being distributed, which would have enormous consequences for Gaza as a whole, including for the hundreds of thousands of people who are at risk of starving and dying. of famine in the north,” he said.
“The world must not allow this to happen,” he added, calling for an “immediate ceasefire.”
Mr Türk also calls for the release of “all remaining hostages”.
Israel estimates that around 130 hostages are still being held in Gaza, 29 of whom are believed to have died, out of around 250 people kidnapped in Israel on October 7. A week-long truce in November allowed the release of 105 hostages and 240 Palestinians held by Israel.