UN experts urge Israel to stop Rafah invasion

GENEVA

A group of UN experts on Friday called on Israel to deter its Rafah ground operation, warning that forcible transfer of people pushes Palestinians further into "critically desperate humanitarian circumstances."

"The long-threatened Rafah invasion must not be seen as a foregone conclusion," the experts said in a statement. "Israel must halt this assault."

The experts stressed that the Rafah incursion was yet another "flagrant violation" of Israel's obligations as an occupying power.

No evacuation order issued by Israel can be considered "compliant with international humanitarian law," they said, and added: "Further displacement of Gaza’s population through evacuation orders or military operations contravenes binding provisional measures imposed on Israel by the International Court of Justice."

According to the experts, the so-called "expanded humanitarian area" of Al Mawasi, where the Israeli military has instructed evacuees to go, is already without sufficient food, water, medicine, hygiene products, electricity, shelter, and access to education for children.

It cannot cope with a population influx, they warned.

"The forcible transfer of civilians, mostly women and more than 600,000 children -- including wounded children -- from Rafah pushes Palestinians across Gaza further into critically desperate humanitarian circumstances," they said.

Israeli forces have continued their military attacks in the eastern areas of Rafah city, southern Gaza Strip, since Monday, leading to the displacement of more than 100,000 Palestinians from these areas to the southwestern part of the Strip.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for a Hamas attack last Oct. 7, which killed 1,200 people. More than 34,900 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, mostly women and children, and over 78,500 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Over seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% 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. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.