“There is an extraordinary, deep anxiety prevailing right now in Gaza because the question everybody asks is whether, yes or no, there would be a military offensive,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told journalists in Geneva. Following several reports by the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, of “intensive strikes on Rafah” that caused dozens of fatalities, Mr….
The warning from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, came as some 1.2 million people continued to shelter in tents pitched in and around the enclave’s southernmost city, Rafah, with nowhere else to go. “It is like living in a greenhouse, no-one can tolerate living inside,” the UN agency said, quoting Mustafa Radwan, formerly…
At the same time, a full six months since Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel prompted an unprecedented Israeli military response, former residents of Khan Younis just north of Rafah are already returning to the shattered city – a move that aid teams cautioned against, given the absence of stockpiled supplies. “The planning is underway for…
That’s according to the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Jamie McGoldrick, speaking in-depth to UN News exactly six months since hostilities began with the Hamas-led terror attack. He underlined that the entire UN aid effort is about saving lives “and nothing else.” The veteran humanitarian was speaking as the Israeli defence forces said…
Spokesperson for Volker Türk in Geneva, Jeremy Laurence, told journalists that an already catastrophic situation could “slide deeper into the abyss” in the coming days if Israeli forces make their move on the southern border city, carrying through with their threat to invade, unless Hamas militants hand over remaining hostages by the start of Ramadan….
Sigrid Kaag reiterated Secretary-General António Guterres’s concern that such an operation at present time would be potentially disastrous for innocent civilians. “There are more than a million people crammed in Rafah. It’s not intended for a million people in shelters, in random sort of plastic sheeted constructions. Health conditions are very worrisome,” she told correspondents…
The Israeli military confirmed on Thursday in a tweet that its special forces had conducted what they called a “precise and limited operation” inside the Nasser hospital in southern Gaza, the largest functioning health facility in the region. In a tweet on Wednesday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization (WHO), expressed alarm…
Echoing renewed deep concerns by the UN’s top humanitarian official Martin Griffiths that an assault on Rafah “could lead to a slaughter”, the World Health Organization (WHO) also firmly rejected allegations of years-long collusion with non-health partners either in or underneath Gaza’s hospitals. ‘There is no collusion’ “We definitely cannot be louder in saying that no, there…
“People are anxious and in fear of a possible large-scale military operation,” Philippe Lazzarini said, after emerging from a briefing with Member States at UN Geneva. “If the assault takes place, the question is, ‘Where will the civilians go?’ There is absolutely no safe place in Rafah anymore and the fear is that the number…
“Today, I’m sounding the alarm once again: Military operations in Rafah could lead to a slaughter in Gaza. They could also leave an already fragile humanitarian operation at death’s door,” he said in a statement on Tuesday. “The scenario we have long dreaded is unraveling at alarming speed,” he said, as well over a million…
