“History does not forgive”… Humanitarian organizations sound the alarm about the attack on Rafah
Following discussions among senior Israeli officials about the country’s plans for a major military operation in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza, where more than half of the Strip’s population has fled the intense fighting, international humanitarian organizations have expressed concern about the operation.
The United Nations’ humanitarian aid official, Martin Griffiths, warned in a statement on Tuesday that “more than half of Gaza’s population – over a million people – are trapped in Rafah, facing death, barely finding food, virtually receiving no medical care, having nowhere to sleep, and no safe haven at all,” noting that “the attack cannot be measured in terms of density, brutality, or size.”
He added, “I have been saying for weeks that our humanitarian response is lamentable. I sound the alarm again: military operations in Rafah could lead to a massacre in Gaza. They could also push already fragile humanitarian operations to the brink of collapse.”
Griffiths continued: “We have no security guarantees, no supplies, and no essential staff to continue these operations,” adding that “the Israeli government cannot continue to ignore these appeals,” emphasizing that “history does not forgive, and this war must stop.”
For its part, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) stated in a social media post on Monday: “There is no safe place in Gaza, and there is no way for people to leave,” adding that nearly 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering in the area.
The United Nations Human Rights Office described the possibility of a full Israeli military incursion into Rafah as “terrifying.”
The office stated on social media platforms: “A large number of civilians, most of them children and women, may be killed or injured” in this attack, “the world must not allow this to happen.”
Meanwhile, Israel plans to expand its ground invasion to include the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge from the attack that has destroyed a large part of the Palestinian territory, since Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting more than 250, according to Israeli statistics.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ABC News on Sunday: “Those who say that we should not enter Rafah under any circumstances are essentially telling us to lose the war.”
Rafah, located at the southern end of the Gaza Strip, has been a haven from Israeli attacks that have claimed the lives of more than 28,000 people, according to health authorities in the Gaza Strip.
