A full-scale Israeli military operation in Rafah would deliver a death blow to aid programs 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 an all-out offensive in Gaza’s southernmost 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 programs.”
The UN chief also warned Monday that deadlock in the organization’s Security Council on the wars in Gaza and Ukraine risked “fatally” undermining its authority, stressing the need for “serious reform.”
“The council’s lack of unity on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and on Israel’s military operations in Gaza following the horrific terror attacks by Hamas on October 7, has severely — perhaps fatally — undermined its authority,” told diplomats in Geneva.
