AFP – Hamas said its delegation was heading to Cairo to resume Gaza truce talks, as the United Nations (UN) warned that Israel’s threatened assault on the city of Rafah could produce a “bloodbath”.
Foreign mediators have been waiting for the Palestinian militant group to respond to a proposal to halt fighting for 40 days and exchange hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
“The only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas,” United States (US) Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday.
Months of negotiations have stalled in part on Hamas’ demand for a lasting ceasefire and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s repeated vows to crush the group’s remaining fighters in Rafah.
Blinken on Friday also reiterated Washington’s objections to the long-threatened Rafah offensive, saying Israel has not presented a plan to protect the civilians sheltering there.
“Absent such a plan, we can’t support a major military operation going into Rafah because the damage it would do is beyond what’s acceptable,” he said.
Humanitarian groups and the United Nations have also begged Israel to call off an attack on Rafah, where 1.2 million people have sought refuge. World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Friday that an incursion into the far-southern city could have dire implications.
“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,” Tedros said on X.
The UN’s health agency announced it was nevertheless making contingency plans, restoring health facilities and pre-positioning supplies.
“This contingency plan is Band-Aids,” said Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO representative in the Palestinian territories.
“The ailing health system will not be able to withstand the potential scale of devastation that the incursion will cause.”
