On Friday, UNICEF warned in opposition to any escalation in Rafah, the place, it mentioned, greater than 600,000 kids and their households had been displaced.
“Thousands more could die in the violence or by lack of essential services, and further disruption of humanitarian assistance,” the company’s govt director, Catherine Russell, mentioned in an announcement. “We need Gaza’s last remaining hospitals, shelters, markets and water systems to stay functional. Without them, hunger and disease will skyrocket, taking more child lives.”
The Palestinian Authority, which partly governs the Israeli-occupied West Bank, mentioned the anticipated Israeli advance was “a dangerous prelude to implementing Israel’s unacceptable policy that aims to expel the Palestinian people from their land.” It appealed to Israel’s allies to cease the army from shifting into Rafah.
Giora Eiland, a former Israeli nationwide safety adviser, mentioned that except civilians had been correctly evacuated a floor operation in Rafah might result in excessive casualty counts and “enormous pressure on the border with Egypt” by Gazans fleeing the incursion. The worldwide group might considerably increase stress for a cease-fire.
“We might reach the opposite of the intended result: You want to deal a final blow against Hamas in Rafah — but at a certain point, the world will tell you ‘no,’ and we end up on the losing end in every direction,” Mr. Eiland mentioned in an interview.
The considerations got here as Israeli troops pressed deeper into Khan Younis, a metropolis lower than 10 miles from Rafah, the place they raided a hospital complicated on Friday and had been looking inside the principle constructing, in line with the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
The Israeli army mentioned that its intelligence had indicated Hamas was working contained in the hospital, Al-Amal, and that “a precise sweep and clear operation to locate terrorists and dismantle terrorist infrastructure in the vicinity has commenced.”
“The military personnel involved have been thoroughly instructed to prioritize the safety of civilians, patients, medical workers and medical facilities during the operation,” the army mentioned.
