Israeli assault on Rafah would be unbearable escalation, UN chief warns

Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu has vowed to attack the southern Gaza city 'with or without a deal' with Hamas

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The UN Secretary General warned on Tuesday that a military assault on Rafah would be an “unbearable escalation”, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to proceed with an attack on the city.

Speaking in New York, Antonio Guterres said an operation in Rafah would result in significant civilian casualties and displacement.

He appealed to “all those with influence over Israel to do everything in their power to prevent it” to avoid what would be an “absolutely devastating tragedy”.

“All members of the Security Council, and many other governments, have clearly expressed their opposition to such an operation,” he said.

Mr Netanyahu said that with or without a deal, Israel intended to pursue an operation to destroy the remaining Hamas combat formations in Rafah, where more than 1.2 million Palestinians are now seeking shelter, having fled the Israeli bombardment.

“The idea that we will halt the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question,” Mr Netanyahu said.

“We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there – with or without a deal, in order to achieve total victory.”

His comments came as Hamas is considering a new ceasefire proposal, which is being discussed in Cairo with mediators from the US, Egypt and Qatar, sparking some hope for an end to the conflict.

The Palestinian militant group said it was considering a plan for a 40-day ceasefire and the exchange of scores of hostages for larger numbers of Palestinian detainees.

The UN chief urged both Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement “for the sake of the people of Gaza, for the sake of the hostages and their families in Israel, and for the sake of the region and the wider world”.

Without that, he feared that the war, with all its consequences both in Gaza and across the region, would worsen exponentially.

Mr Guterres also called on Israeli authorities to allow and enable safe, rapid and unimpeded access for aid and humanitarian workers, including the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) throughout Gaza.

Two hundred days of Israel-Gaza war – in pictures

Palestinians move with their belongings on a road lined with destroyed buildings, in Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, on April 22. AFP

An infant saved from the womb of her mother Sabreen Al Sheikh, who was killed in an Israeli strike along with her husband Shokri and her daughter Malak, lies in an incubator at Al Emirati hospital in Rafah, on April 21. Reuters

A man rides a bicycle, on April 2, past a damaged vehicle where employees from the World Central Kitchen non-profit, including foreigners, were killed in an Israeli air strike. Reuters

A woman at the damaged Al Shifa Hospital, on April 1, after Israeli forces withdrew from the medical complex following a two-week siege. Reuters

The view from a Jordanian flight dropping vital aid by parachute into Gaza, in March. Matthew Kynaston / The National

Nozha Awad flees Al Shifa hospital with her triplet children, after an Israeli raid siege began at the medical complex, in March. Reuters

Palestinians gather to receive aid outside a UNRWA warehouse, in March. Reuters

A family end their fast amid the rubble of their destroyed home, during Ramadan in Rafah, in March. Reuters

Wafaa Tabasi with her twin malnourished daughters, at Al Awda health centre in Rafah, in March. Reuters

Palestinians carry bags of flour taken from an aid lorry near an Israeli checkpoint in Gaza City, in February. Reuters

Fernando Simon Marman and Louis Hare, two Israeli hostages who, according to the Israeli military, were freed in a special forces operation in Rafah, reunite with loved ones at Sheba Medical Centre, in Ramat Gan, Israel, in February. Reuters

Palestinian Muhammad Al Durra with his children in the ruins of a house in Rafah where they sheltered on January 11, 2024. EPA

Family and friends at the funerals of journalists Hamza Al Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya on January 7, 2024 in Rafah, Gaza. Getty Images

Palestinians mourn relatives killed by Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip outside a mortuary in Khan Younis January 4, 2024. AP Photo

Displaced Palestinians queue to bake bread at a camp in the Muwasi area of Rafah, Gaza Strip, on December 23, 2023. AP Photo

Palestinians queue for food in Rafah, the Gaza Strip, on December 20, 2023. AP Photo

The ruins of Rafah on December 14, 2023. AFP

Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip arrive at a hospital in Khan Younis on December 8, 2023. AP Photo

Palestinians flee Israeli bombing along the Salaheddine Road in the Zeitoun district of Gaza city on November 28, 2023. AFP

A Red Cross vehicle takes Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip into Egypt in Rafah on November 25, 2023. AP

The ruins of buildings in Gaza city on November 24, 2023, as a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas took effect. AP Photo

A woman and her cat return home to eastern Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip during the first hours of a four-day truce between Israel and Hamas forces on November 24, 2023. AFP

Mourning the dead of Israeli bombardment outside the mortuary at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on November 14, 2023. AFP

Civilians and rescuers look for survivors in the rubble of a building after Israeli bombing of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 12, 2023. AFP

November 7, 2023, a month to the day after Hamas attacked Israel, a victim of an Israeli bombardment in Rafah is moved from the rubble. AFP

Searching the rubble after Israeli air strikes on the town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on October 26, 2023. AP Photo

Mourning the Kotz family at their funeral in Gan Yavne, Israel, on October 17, 2023. AP Photo

An Israeli firefighter composes himself after he and his colleagues extinguished cars set on fire by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip in Ashkelon, Israel, on October 9, 2023. AP Photo

Palestinians with the wreckage of an Israeli tank at the Gaza Strip fence east of the city of Khan Younis on October 7, 2023, the day Hamas forces swept unopposed into Israel. AP Photo

Israeli police officers evacuate a woman and a child from a site hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, on October 7, 2023. AP Photo