UN chief says there is growing consensus to tell Israel that a ceasefire is needed

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said during a visit to Jordan today that there is growing international consensus to tell Israel that a ceasefire is needed and that an assault on Rafah would cause a humanitarian disaster, Reuters reports.

“We see a growing consensus emerging in the international community to tell the Israelis that the ceasefire is needed and I also see a growing consensus, I heard in the US, I heard from the European Union, not to mention of course the Muslim world, to tell clearly to Israelis that any ground invasion of Rafah could mean a humanitarian disaster,” Guterres told a news conference.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stressed that Tel Aviv will launch a ground invasion of Gaza’s southernmost city, Rafah, where more than 1.1 million Palestinians who have been forced from their homes in the Strip had been told to take refuge are now living. This is in spite of international calls for it not to do so because of the humanitarian catastrophe that would ensue.

Israel minister: We will invade Rafah even if the whole world is against us