Attack on Rafah would be nail in coffin of Gaza aid: UN chief

GENEVA, Feb 26: A full-scale Israeli military operation in Rafah would deliver a death blow to aid programmes in Gaza, where humanitarian assistance remains "completely insufficient", the UN chief warned Monday.

Speaking before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Antonio Guterres said that Gazas southernmost city, where more than 1.4 million Palestinians are crowded together in tent cities, was "the core of the humanitarian aid operation" in the Palestinian territory.

"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," he said. His comments came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday reiterated that his country was intent on a ground invasion in Rafah, in its bid for "total victory" over Hamas, whose October 7 attack triggered the war.    —AFP