A ground offensive by the Israeli army on the town of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, “could lead to a bloodbath”, the head of the World Health Organization warned Friday on the social network
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“WHO is deeply concerned that a large-scale military operation in Rafah, Gaza, could lead to bloodshed and further weaken a health system already on its knees,” writes Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, about the city where there are 1.2 million Palestinians who have come to seek refuge.
For now, the Israeli army continues to bomb the city, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to launch a ground offensive to “annihilate” according to him the last brigades of Hamas, a movement that he considers terrorist as well as the States -United States and the European Union.
The Europeans, the UN and the United States, Israel’s main ally, have all forcefully asked Mr Netanyahu to abandon a ground offensive on the city.
In addition to the cost in human lives, an offensive would be “a hard blow to humanitarian operations throughout the Gaza Strip” because Rafah “is at the heart of humanitarian operations,” the spokesperson for the Office of Affairs warned on Friday. of the UN (Ocha), Jens Laerke, in Geneva.
On October 7, an attack by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza in southern Israel led to the death of more than 1,170 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP report established based on official Israeli data.
In retaliation for the Hamas attack, the Israeli army launched a large-scale offensive – air then land – in the Gaza Strip which has so far left 34,622 people dead, mostly civilians, according to the Ministry of Security. Health of Hamas.
