GENEVA, Switzerland: The World Health Organization warned Friday that an Israeli military incursion into Gaza’s southern city of Rafah could lead to a “bloodbath” as the organization announced contingency plans.
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas’s remaining fighters in Rafah, where much of Gaza Strip’s population has sought refuge from nearly seven months of bombardment.
Director-general WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned of possible dire implications for the 1.2 million people taking refuge in Rafah.
Tedros said on X, “WHO is deeply concerned that a full-scale military operation in Rafah, Gaza, could lead to a bloodbath, and further weaken an already broken health system”.
The WHO, in a statement, announced contingency efforts, but warned “the broken health system would not be able to cope with a surge in casualties and deaths that a Rafah incursion would cause”.
WHO representative in the Palestinian territories, Rik Peeperkorn, told reporters in Geneva, “This contingency plan is Band-Aids”. “It will absolutely not prevent the expected substantial additional mortality and morbidity caused by a military operation.”
According to the organization, most of the besieged territory’s health facilities have been damaged by heavy Israeli bombardment.
The UN health agency said only 12 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals and 22 of its 88 primary health facilities are “partially functional”.
According to the statement, WHO and partners, as part of contingency efforts, are urgently working to restore and resuscitate health services.
It feared that three currently operational hospitals in Rafah would become unreachable “when hostilities intensify in their vicinity”.
The statement added that the military operation in Rafah could create a new wave of displacement that would lead to more crowding, limited access to food, water and sanitation and more disease outbreaks.
The World Health Organization called for an immediate and lasting ceasefire and the removal of obstacles to the delivery of emergency humanitarian assistance at the required scale in and across the Gaza Strip.
Spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, Jens Laerke, said that a military operation in Rafah “could lead to a slaughter”.
“Any ground operation would mean more suffering and death,” he said.
