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full screen UN Secretary General António Guterres. Photo: Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone Via AP/TT
A full-scale attack in Rafah would be a death blow for humanitarian aid in Gaza, warns UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
– A full-scale Israeli offensive in the city would not only be terrible for the more than one million Palestinian civilians taking refuge there – it would be the nail in the coffin for our aid programs, says Guterres.
The secretary-general said this after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Sunday that Israel intends to carry out a ground invasion in Rafah, in its bid to win a “total victory” over terrorist-branded Hamas.
Guterres also defends UNRWA, the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees. He calls it the “backbone” of aid efforts in Gaza.
Israel has accused individual UNRWA staff of being involved in the Islamist extremist groups’ large-scale attacks against Israel on 7 October. Suspect employees have been dismissed and an investigation is ongoing.
UN human rights chief Volker Türk criticizes widespread “disinformation targeting UN humanitarian organizations, UN peacekeeping forces and my office”.
– This is deeply destructive to the public good, and it heartlessly fails the many people whose lives depend on it, he says.