Doctors Without Borders voices fear of 'further catastrophe' in Rafah

The Secretary-General of the humanitarian group, Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), has voiced fear of “further catastrophe” in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, and warned of the risk of more civilian casualties, a clear reference to Israel’s ongoing onslaught that began on Monday, Anadolu Agency reports.

Christopher Lockyear told Anadolu that Rafah is one of the “very few arteries into the Gaza Strip that can provide essential humanitarian assistance to the people who are desperately in need.”

What is happening over the last few days is what we’ve been fearing for months now, and the potential consequences are really that there is a further catastrophe on (top of) the catastrophe that has been happening in Gaza over the last six months or so

he stressed as Israeli army on Tuesday seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah Crossing on the border with Egypt, a vital route for humanitarian aid into the besieged Territory.

Lockyear noted that bombs are causing direct casualties, but there are also “silent killings that are ongoing on a daily basis for those people who can’t receive medical treatment.”

READ: UN official warns of extensive contamination in Gaza rubble from explosive ordnance

The Secretary-General called for an “immediate and sustained ceasefire”, adding that

if you are enabling this to happen through the supply of weapons, through political support, you too are morally and politically complicit in terms of what is happening in Rafah today

On Monday, the Israeli army issued evacuation orders for Palestinians in eastern Rafah, a move widely seen as a prelude to Israel’s long-feared attack on the city, home to some 1.5 million displaced Palestinians.

He referred to the situation in Rafah as “obscene”, saying asking the people to relocate is unacceptable. “This is not a humane action. This is an obscene act to make people move again.”

“We have seen tens of thousands of civilian casualties in this conflict … And so I think it is inevitable if this conflict continues, we’ll see more, more and more casualties,” Lockyear warned.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for a 7 October attack by the Palestinian group, Hamas, which killed about 1,200 people.

However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.

More than 34,900 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, mostly women and children, and 78,100 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Over seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85 per cent of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which, in January, issued an interim ruling that ordered it to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

READ: Palestinian groups reject any foreign control over Rafah crossing