United Nations (UN) Humanitarian Affairs Coordinator, Martin Griffith, has reiterated his warning against a full-scale military assault on Rafah where more than half of the Gaza population is now sheltered.
Griffith, in a statement on Tuesday, said that military operations in Rafah could lead to a slaughter in Gaza.
“They could also leave an already fragile humanitarian operation at death’s door.
“The scenario we have long dreaded is unraveling at an alarming speed,” he said, pointing out that more than a million people are now crammed in the city.
According to him, they are staring death in the face, with little to eat, hardly any access to medical care, nowhere to sleep and nowhere safe to go.
Griffiths recalled that for more than four months, humanitarians had been doing the near impossible to assist people in need in Gaza despite the risks they faced and their own traumas.
“But no amount of dedication and goodwill is enough to keep millions of people alive, fed and protected – while the bombs are falling and the aid is choked off.
“Add to this the widespread despair, the breakdown of law and order, and the defunding of UNRWA,” he said, referring to the UN agency that assists the Palestinian people.
As a result, humanitarian workers have been shot at, held at gunpoint, attacked, and killed, he said.
They lack the safety guarantees, aid supplies and the staff capacity to keep operations afloat, he added.
“The international community has been warning against the dangerous consequences of any ground invasion in Rafah. The Government of Israel cannot continue to ignore these calls.
“History will not be kind. This war must end,” he said.
Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported continued attacks on energy facilitates in Ukraine.
In the Dnipro region, in the east of the country, after two days of strikes on energy facilities, local authorities reported another attack overnight on a thermal plant.
The strikes prompted the evacuation of a hospital and the closure of schools in the impacted areas, due to low temperatures, OCHA said in a statement.
Damage to energy facilities were also reported in Donetsk, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kherson and Sumy regions.
“On the frontline, our humanitarian partners continue to support communities whose access to critical services has been severely hampered by active hostilities,” OCHA said.
In the town of Siversk, Donetsk region, aid organiations supported the installation of a filtering station to provide clean water to people who had been without access to gas, water and electricity due to the destruction of the critical infrastructure.
Meanwhile, as the second anniversary of Russia’s full scale invasion approaches, concerns are growing over a sharp increase in fighting, with devastating impact on civilians.
