Israel's Rafah operation would be 'catastrophic': UN

Source: Yahoo

STORY: Israel approved on Friday a potential assault on the Gaza city of Rafah while also keeping ceasefire hopes alive with plans to send another delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible hostage deal with Islamist militant group Hamas.

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Representative for The State of Palestine, Dominic Allen, who briefed reporters virtually from Jerusalem following his visit to Rafah, also described the situation in Gaza as "beyond catastrophic."

"It's a nightmare, which is much more than a humanitarian crisis. It is a crisis of humanity," said Allen. "And having left Gaza this week, I can assure you that it's worse than I can describe, or the pictures can show or that you can imagine."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he had ok'd a plan to attack the city on the southern edge of the shattered Palestinian enclave where more than half of its 2.3 million residents are sheltering after five months of war.