Israel's planned Rafah offensive could lead to 'slaughter', warns UN

OCHA would do everything possible to ensure aid operations continued, even in the event of an incursion, and was studying how to do that, he added.

Reuters reported that an Israeli incursion in Rafah would put the lives of hundreds of thousands of Gazans at risk and be a huge blow to the aid operations of the entire enclave, the UN humanitarian office said on Friday, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced contingency plans for an incursion.

Israel has repeatedly warned of an operation against Hamas in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where around a million displaced people are crowded together, having fled months of Israeli bombardments triggered by Hamas fighters' deadly cross-border attack on October 7 last year.

"It could be a slaughter of civilians and an incredible blow to the humanitarian operation in the entire strip because it is run primarily out of Rafah," said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office (OCHA), at a Geneva press briefing.

Aid operations in Rafah include medical clinics, warehouses stocked with humanitarian supplies, food distribution points and 50 centres for acutely malnourished children, Laerke said.

OCHA would do everything possible to ensure aid operations continued, even in the event of an incursion, and was studying how to do that, he added.