IDF operation in Rafah would be ‘final nail in the coffin’ of aid programmes, says UN chief

António Guterres has described Rafah in southern Gaza as the core of the humanitarian aid operation in the Palestinian enclave. The UN chief said a full-scale Israeli assault would have devastating consequences, adding: ‘An all-out Israeli offensive on the city would not only be terrifying for more than a million Palestinian civilians sheltering there, it would put the final nail in the coffin of our aid programmes’. In his speech, Guterres criticised the UN security council for failing to respond adequately to Israel’s war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which he said had ‘perhaps fatally’ undermined his authority

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