As Israel plans to invade the Rafah area, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs announced on Tuesday that any move by Israel to expand its ground operation in Gaza to include the crowded city of Rafah in the south of the Strip may lead to “war crimes that must be prevented at all costs.”

"War crimes"

The United Nations, in a statement, quoted OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke as telling reporters in Geneva that “under international humanitarian law, indiscriminate bombing of densely populated areas could amount to war crimes.”

The statement indicated that this comes at a time when the Office of Humanitarian Affairs indicated an “increase in strikes” on Rafah Governorate on Monday and Monday, while thousands of Gazans continue to flock to Rafah, including many who fled the violent fighting in Khan Yunis.

Rafah is crowded with displaced people

The UN statement pointed out that this displacement led to a five-fold increase in the population of Rafah since the outbreak of war in Gaza on the seventh of last October.

Laerke warned that “intensified hostilities in Rafah under this situation could lead to significant loss of civilian lives, and we must do everything in our power to avoid this.”

"Evacuation of Rafah residents to northern Gaza"

Israeli media had reported that Tel Aviv was considering evacuating Rafah residents to the northern Gaza Strip before a possible attack on the city, but the newspaper said, citing sources, that such a step would not take place before March.

Egyptian concern

The Israeli newspaper explained that Egypt “recently sent strong messages to Israel stating that the passage of Palestinian refugees from Gaza to Sinai will jeopardize the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel.”

Egypt made clear that it would not agree to the passage of refugees from Sinai to its territory.