If the Israeli army goes ahead with a large-scale ground operation in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, an “unspeakable tragedy” will unfold, Martin Griffiths, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for the United Nations, warned in a statement released today. humanitarian affairs and aid.

“The truth is that a ground operation in Rafah would simply cause an indescribable tragedy. No humanitarian plan can deal with this. The rest are nothing but details”, emphasizes Mr. Griffiths at the conclusion of the text,

He released the announcement after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed his intention to order a ground operation in Rafah.

Mr. Netanyahu is insisting on this despite warnings from many capitals, including Washington, and humanitarian organizations, who fear massive civilian casualties in this city, which has been turned into a sprawling refugee camp, home to some one and a half million Palestinians.

“People have been calling for weeks for the Israeli authorities not to attack Rafah, but a ground operation is taking shape on the immediate horizon,” says Martin Griffiths.

“For the hundreds of thousands of people who fled to the southernmost tip of Gaza to escape disease, famine, mass graves and fighting, a ground invasion would mean even more injuries and deaths,” continues the Briton, who is expected to leave his duties in a few weeks.

“For agencies struggling to deliver humanitarian aid despite fighting, impassable roads, unexploded ordnance, fuel shortages, delays at checkpoints and Israeli restrictions, a ground invasion would deal a devastating blow,” he said.

“We’re in a race to prevent starvation and death, and we’re losing.”

He notes that he “welcomes” the recent opening of the Eretz crossing and, in general, the facilitation of the deliveries of the — still insufficient — aid to the Gaza Strip, which has been relentlessly pounded by the Israeli army since the start of the war against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.

But “these improvements in the distribution of more aid to Gaza cannot be used to prepare or justify a military attack on Rafah,” he says.

The war broke out on October 7, when Hamas’ military arm moved into the Gaza Strip in an unprecedented raid into southern parts of the Israeli territory, killing 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally by AFP based on official Israeli data.

In retaliation, Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, which the US and EU designate as a terrorist organization.

The Israeli army launched in retaliation large-scale operations which have so far claimed the lives of 34,535 people, the vast majority of them civilians, have caused massive destruction in the small enclave and displaced its population en masse.