“The WHO is deeply concerned that a large-scale military operation in Rafah, Gaza, could lead to a bloodbath and further weaken an already crumbling health system,” wrote Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on social media. X (formerly Twitter), referring to the city where 1.2 million Palestinians sought refuge.
The Israeli army continues to bombard the city, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to launch a ground offensive to “annihilate”, as he said, the last brigades of the Palestinian Islamists of Hamas.
The Europeans, the UN and the United States, Israel’s main ally, strongly urged Netanyahu to abandon the offensive.
In addition to the deaths, an offensive in Rafah would be “a major blow to humanitarian operations throughout the Gaza Strip”, because that city “is at the center of humanitarian operations”, Jens Laerke, spokesman for the United Nations Cabinet, also warned today. United Nations for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in Geneva.
The current war in the Gaza Strip was triggered by Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israeli soil on October 7, which caused around 1,200 deaths, according to authorities.
Since then, Israel has been carrying out a military offensive to annihilate the extremist group, in an operation that killed more than 34,600 people and destroyed much of Gaza’s infrastructure, according to the Hamas government.
