Israeli ground invasion of Rafah would be intolerable: UN chief

WASHINGTON

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday that an Israeli ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah would be "intolerable"

"I receive you Mr. President in a moment of great concern. I made today a very strong appeal to the government of Israel and to the leadership of Hamas in order to go an extra mile to materialize an agreement that is absolutely vital," Guterres said ahead of his meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella at UN headquarters in New York.

"This is an opportunity that cannot be missed, and a ground invasion in Rafah would be intolerable because of its devastating humanitarian consequences and because of its destabilizing impact in the region," Guterres added.

The Palestinian group Hamas said Monday evening that it had accepted a Qatari-Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza.

Israel said late Monday, however, that the truce offer accepted by Hamas does not meet its key demands.

Israel’s war cabinet also decided to push ahead with an operation in Rafah “in order to apply military pressure on Hamas with the goal of making progress on freeing the hostages and the other war aims.”

The Israeli army issued immediate evacuation orders early Monday for Palestinians in the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah and called on them to move to the town of al-Mawasi in southern Gaza.

Rafah is home to more than 1.5 million displaced Palestinians who have taken refuge from the war launched by Israel following Hamas' Oct. 7 attack that killed nearly 1,200 people.

Since then, the Israeli onslaught has killed more than 34,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, besides causing a humanitarian catastrophe.

Nearly 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 there.