An Israeli military assault into the south of Gaza may lead to 1 million refugees, the head of the UN’s Palestine relief agency UNRWA has warned.
After a second overnight visit to Gaza where he met overwhelmed Palestinians, Philippe Lazzarini urged Israel to think through the consequences of an offensive in the south if the temporary truce in the fighting is not extended.
Lazzarini has become one of the most outspoken UN humanitarian officials in recent weeks, urging Israel to abide by the rules of law and proportionality.
Equally, Lazzarini says the concept of unilateral safe zones in the south for civilians, if they are not agreed with Hamas, is full of risk.
“Now, we are told, or we hear, that people should move further south-west if the offensive takes place in Khan Yunis […] but you cannot declare an area safe unilaterally in a war zone.”
Lazzarini has no compunction going beyond saying Israel should abide by the rules of war to asserting that it is not doing so – a step the US and British administrations decline to take – and he believes it will be up to an international legal body to determine the facts in future.
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
An Israeli military assault into the south of Gaza may lead to 1 million refugees, the head of the UN’s Palestine relief agency UNRWA has warned.
After a second overnight visit to Gaza where he met overwhelmed Palestinians, Philippe Lazzarini urged Israel to think through the consequences of an offensive in the south if the temporary truce in the fighting is not extended.
Lazzarini has become one of the most outspoken UN humanitarian officials in recent weeks, urging Israel to abide by the rules of law and proportionality.
Equally, Lazzarini says the concept of unilateral safe zones in the south for civilians, if they are not agreed with Hamas, is full of risk.
“Now, we are told, or we hear, that people should move further south-west if the offensive takes place in Khan Yunis […] but you cannot declare an area safe unilaterally in a war zone.”
Lazzarini has no compunction going beyond saying Israel should abide by the rules of war to asserting that it is not doing so – a step the US and British administrations decline to take – and he believes it will be up to an international legal body to determine the facts in future.
The original article contains 1,096 words, the summary contains 200 words. Saved 82%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!