Israeli military action in Rafah threatens to turn the southern Gaza Strip city "into a graveyard," the U.S. head of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned.
"With more than 1.5 million civilians crowded into this sliver of land, an Israeli military escalation threatens to turn Rafah into a graveyard," Avril Benoit said in a statement.
"We are calling for an immediate and sustained ceasefire to prevent more civilian deaths and injuries in Gaza and enable the urgent scale-up of humanitarian aid. The survival of civilians in Gaza depends on it," added Benoit, MSF's executive director in the U.S.
Her statement came after the 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.
This followed evacuation orders issued by the Israeli army for Palestinians in eastern Rafah, a move widely seen as a prelude to a long-feared attack on the city, home to some 1.5 million displaced Palestinians.
Benoit underlined that people currently taking refuge in Rafah have been displaced "time and again by the war and are living in tents and makeshift shelters that can barely withstand the elements, let alone bombs and airstrikes."
She also highlighted Rafah's role as a "major hub of health care services and humanitarian assistance" in the Gaza Strip. The city is also crucial for humanitarian assistance deliveries, given the crossing with Egypt, she added.
"Attacking this area means cutting off the lifelines of people who've lost everything. Our humanitarian staff and patients are terrified," she said.
Israel has waged an unrelenting offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas last Oct. 7 which killed some 1,200 people.
More than 34,800 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and 78,400 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.
Benoit's statement called for immediate action to halt Israel's plans for a ground invasion of Rafah. She highlighted the grave danger posed to the trapped population in Rafah and emphasized that further military escalation would exacerbate the already fragile humanitarian situation.
She stressed the responsibility of the U.S., as a major supporter of Israel, to ensure that its assistance does not contribute to violations of international humanitarian law. She expressed concern that the ongoing offensive would severely damage the already-fragile health system in the region. She noted that hospitals are at risk of being inaccessible or destroyed, as seen in the north.
"For seven months, we have witnessed the indiscriminate killing of civilians, attacks on aid workers — including our own staff — the destruction of medical facilities, and the obstruction of lifesaving assistance. We cannot imagine what a further escalation of this conflict would mean for people who have already suffered so much in this war without rules," she said.
