A widespread Israeli operation in Rafah will “put the final nail in the coffin” of humanitarian aid programs in the Gaza Strip, where aid to the population remains “grossly inadequate”, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned today.
The broad military operation against Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, which Israel has announced “will not only be terrifying for the more than one million Palestinian civilians who have taken refuge there. It will also put the final nail in the coffin of aid programs,” Guterres said at the start of the Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva.
An estimated 1.5 million Palestinians live crammed into tents and other makeshift shelters in Rafah, a city on the Palestinian enclave’s border with Egypt. Most of them fled their homes in the northern part of the Gaza Strip to escape Israeli operations.
Rafa core of humanitarian operations
Guterres called Rafah the core of humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip.
At the same time, the UN Secretary General criticized the Security Council for failing to show unity regarding the war in Ukraine and the Israeli operations in Gaza.
Guterres criticism of the UN Security Council
“The Council’s lack of unity regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s military operations in Gaza following the horrific terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7 have seriously – possibly fatally – undermined its authority,” he underlined.
“Serious reforms must be made in the composition and method of operation of the Council,” Guterres assessed.
The third American veto
The US again last week vetoed a draft Security Council resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
This is the third US veto of a draft Security Council resolution since the start of Israeli operations on October 7.
Source: APE – MEB
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