KUALA LUMPUR – More than half of Gaza’s population – well over a million people – are crammed into Rafah, staring death in the face, according to United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths.
“They have little to eat, hardly any access to medical care, nowhere to sleep, nowhere safe to go,” he said in a statement posted on the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ website yesterday.
Griffiths said the scenario in Rafah “we have long dreaded is unravelling at alarming speed”.
They, like the entire population of Gaza, are the victims of an assault that is unparalleled in its intensity, brutality and scope, he said.
More than 28,000 people – mostly women and children – have been killed across Gaza, according to the Health Ministry, the statement noted.
Griffiths said that for more than four months, humanitarian workers have been doing the near-impossible to assist people in need, despite the risks they themselves were facing and the traumas they were enduring.
“But no amount of dedication and goodwill is enough to keep millions of people alive, fed and protected while the bombs are falling and aid is choked off,” he said.
He pointed out that the consequences include humanitarian workers being shot at, held at gunpoint, attacked and killed.
“I have said for weeks now that our humanitarian response is in tatters. Today, I’m sounding the alarm once again. Military operations in Rafah could lead to a slaughter in Gaza. They could also leave an already fragile humanitarian operation at death’s door,” he said.
Griffiths stressed that the relief agency lacked safety guarantees, aid supplies and staff capacity to keep the operation afloat.
He pointed out that the international community has been warned against the dangerous consequences of any ground invasion in Rafah, adding that the government of Israel cannot continue to ignore these calls.
“History will not be kind. This war must end,” he said. – February 14, 2024