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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 in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where around a million displaced people are crowded together, having fled months of Israeli bombardments.
"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.
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.
Meanwhile, more US college encampments protesting the Gaza war have been shut down by police or dismantled by students, including Rutgers University in New Jersey and Minnesota, as pro-Palestine protests spread elsewhere in the world.
More than 2,000 protesters have been arrested over the past two weeks as students rally against the war’s death toll and call for universities to separate themselves from any companies that are advancing Israel’s military efforts in Gaza, with encampments recently closed in Columbia and UCLA.
Meanwhile, Hamas said it would send a delegation to Cairo as soon as possible to keep working on ceasefire talks, as Israel launches a new round of aerial attacks on Rafah killing four children.
Meanwhile, Dror Or, a 49-year-old believed to be held captive in Gaza, has been confirmed dead as protests were held outside Israel’s military headquarters in Tel Aviv demanding a deal to release the remaining hostages.