Her evacuation Rafawith the evacuation of more than a million people, is “not feasible” under current conditions, an official of the International Committee of the Red Cross warned today, as Israel threatens to launch a ground operation in this city, on the southern tip of Gaza Strip.

Many countries and humanitarian organizations are concerned about the ongoing preparations for this operation. Israel considers Rafah to be the last major Hamas stronghold in the Palestinian enclave.

“We don’t currently see any plan to evacuate” Rafa, said Mr Fabrizio Carbonithe director of the ICRC, on the sidelines of a session in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Rafah is home to 1.5 million people, both permanent residents and displaced, who are facing a dramatic humanitarian situation. “If we look at the level of destruction in the central (Gaza) sector and in the north, we don’t understand where people could move to and where they could have decent accommodation and basic services,” he added. “Therefore today, with the information we have (…) we do not consider a mass evacuation possible”, he stressed.

The Israeli army has not yet entered Rafah, which is nevertheless bombarded daily. According to Egyptian officials cited by the Wall Street Journal, ahead of its operation Israel is preparing to move civilians from Rafah to Khan Younis where it will set up shelters and food distribution centers. The evacuation operation could last two to three weeks and would be coordinated with the US, Egypt and other Arab countries such as the UAE, the sources said.

Israel’s Defense Minister Joab Gallant said it was considering “a series of measures” ahead of operations in Rafah, mainly involving the removal of civilians.

“A military operation (in Rafah) cannot, under any circumstances, be carried out without catastrophic humanitarian consequences,” Carboni told AFP today on the sidelines of the Dubai International Summit on Development and Humanitarian Aid (Dihad). “Considering the level of destruction, the fatigue of people, that some are injured or sick, and the limited access to food and basic services, I find (the evacuation) extremely difficult,” he added.

For Jan Egeland, the secretary-general of the non-governmental organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), a ground operation in Rafah, “the largest displaced persons camp on the planet”, would lead to an “Apocalypse situation”. “There is no information (about the evacuation), no consultation with humanitarian organizations,” he said. What the organizations understand is that “Netanyahu says he will attack but there is no plan for where the civilians will go, how the aid will be provided and how it will be distributed.”

“There are no reserves, no fuel and, above all, no liquidity. There’s no money, we can’t pay our workers,” commented the NRC director.

Palestinians who have returned to the northern Gaza Strip in recent weeks have seen ruins. What awaited them were “unexploded bombs and, in many cases, more bombing,” he continued. “There is no safe place in Gaza if people leave Rafah,” he concluded.