Ground offensive in Rafah will cause more death and hunger in Gaza

Despite recent evacuation orders Action Against Hunger, is  maintaining at the moment its presence in Rafah and continue working to provide humanitarian aid to populations across the Gaza strip, as well as to ensure the safety of our staff.

Action Against Hunger fears that a possible ground offensive in Rafah will result in thousands of deaths, while greatly increasing the risk, yet again, of forcible transfer of over one million Palestinians, and greatly prevent life-saving aid from reaching the most vulnerable in Gaza.

So far, around 100,000 people in the eastern part of Rafah have received orders to evacuate, including several Action Against Hunger staff.  We are doing everything in our power to support them in this extremely dire situation and we have already prepared an alternative refuge for our staff and their families in a safer zone so they so that they can continue their tireless commitment to the victims.

“People in Rafah  are already facing starvation, disease, and trauma.  If there is an offensive, the consequences will be catastrophic, when we are barely managing to structure the little aid that reaches the Strip”, says Natalia Anguera, Action Against Hunger’s Head of Operations for the Middle East.

Over a million people in Rafah have already lost everything: their houses, their savings, everything they built in the last decades. Everything is destroyed, all the health centres, schools, and public services.

“There are a lot of people crowded together in places without means of subsistence. Our colleagues and other people have already displaced multiple times to get to Rafah and will have to move again but there are no more safe areas to go to.” Comments Natalia Anguera.

Despite continuous global warnings from the international community about the catastrophic impact of a ground offensive in Rafah, the recent evacuation order will also greatly hinder the ability of humanitarian organizations to respond to the basic needs of the population. We call on all actors to do everything in their power to guarantee safe and unobstructed humanitarian access. Without it, we will witness catastrophic consequences not yet seen across the last seven months.

“Action Against Hunger urgently recalls the need for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, an immediate release of hostages, safe, effective, and unimpeded humanitarian access and the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure as the only way to prevent further catastrophe” concludes Natalia Anguerra.

Action Against Hunger, is presented in the Occupied Palestinian Territory for over 20 years and in Gaza since 2005. Action Against Hunger is working non stop in the conflict response since the last seven months.