April 25, 2024
Rafah military operation would have ‘absolutely devastating consequences’ — UNRWA
Sam Rose, the director of planning for the UN Relief Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), told DW that any form of large-scale military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah would have “absolutely devastating consequences” for the nearly 1.5 million people who have sought refuge there in recent months.
“However it is done, we fear that the implications will be absolutely catastrophic for a population that has already gone through so much,” he said.
“We call for an immediate cease-fire, for an immediate release of hostages and for an end to this bloodshed and this hell that people have had to put up with.”
UNRWA said they had not been informed by Israel of any plans to evacuate Palestinians from Rafah, but Rose added he had seen the satellite images of the tents that have gone up in the southern Gaza Strip, ostensibly to house evacuees from Rafah.
Nevertheless, he said the experience of previous evacuations from other Gaza cities does not fill him with confidence.
“People left without anything. They left at short notice. They received leaflets from the air telling them to move within a matter of hours,” Rose said. This may give people time to move, but there is no safe place for them to go, he explained.
“People have been killed on their way from one spot to another, as they’ve been directed to by the authorities, and they’ve been killed on the way. It’s impossible to see how this can take place without major humanitarian consequences, major suffering, major loss of life.”