UN agencies slam Israeli offensive in Rafah as 'darkest' day

DPA
·1 min read
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Smoke rises following Israeli air strikes near the Rafah crossing. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Israeli military has taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
Smoke rises following Israeli air strikes near the Rafah crossing. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Israeli military has taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa

The humanitarian branches of the United Nations have condemned Israel's advance into Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.

A spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights Office, Ravina Shamdasani, commented that for civilians who have been ordered to evacuate there are no safe routes to the north and no safe havens with sufficient sanitary facilities and food supplies.

These are basic humanitarian requirements for evacuations, she said in Geneva.

"There are strong indications that this is being conducted in violation of international humanitarian law," she said.

"This morning is one of the darkest in this seven-months-long nightmare," said Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Israeli forces had ignored all warnings about the impact of a Rafah offensive on the civilian population, he said. "Panic and despair has taken hold."

"Our worst fears seem to be a reality," said James Elder, a spokesman for the UN children's fund UNICEF.