UN human rights office: IDF operation Rafah ‘must not be allowed to happen’

The United Nations human rights office says that an Israeli offensive in Gaza’s border town of Rafah could not be allowed to happen because it would cause massive loss of Palestinian lives.

“Should Israel launch its threatened military offensive into Rafah, where 1.5 million people have been displaced in deplorable, subhuman conditions, any ground assault on Rafah would incur massive loss of life and would heighten the risk of further atrocity crimes,” says Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office.

“This must not be allowed to happen.”

Over a million Palestinians — most of them displaced from elsewhere — have converged on the last Gazan city untouched by Israel’s ground offensive against Hamas, sparked by the terror group’s October 7 massacres in southern Israel.