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Guterres: Israeli Offensive on Rafah Could Worsen ‘Humanitarian Nightmare’

UN chief Antonio Guterres. Reuters
UN chief Antonio Guterres. Reuters
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Guterres: Israeli Offensive on Rafah Could Worsen ‘Humanitarian Nightmare’

UN chief Antonio Guterres. Reuters
UN chief Antonio Guterres. Reuters

An Israeli offensive on the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip “would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare,” warned UN chief Antonio Guterres on Thursday.

“Half of Gaza’s population is now crammed into Rafah with nowhere to go,” Guterres said on X.

“Reports that the Israeli military intends to focus next on Rafah are alarming. Such an action would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional consequences,” he added.

More than half of the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million people have fled to Rafah, heeding Israeli evacuation orders ahead of the military’s expanding ground offensive. Evacuation orders now cover two-thirds of the tiny besieged enclave.

Even in areas of refuge, such as Rafah, Israel routinely launches air strikes against what it says are Hamas targets.

Israeli ground forces are still focusing on the city of Khan Younis, just north of Rafah, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly warned this week that Rafah would be next, creating panic among hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

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Airlines Including Lufthansa Cautiously Plan to Resume Some Middle East Flights

An Airbus A320-214 passenger aircraft of Lufthansa airline, takes off from Malaga-Costa del Sol airport, in Malaga, Spain, May 3, 2024. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo
An Airbus A320-214 passenger aircraft of Lufthansa airline, takes off from Malaga-Costa del Sol airport, in Malaga, Spain, May 3, 2024. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo
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Airlines Including Lufthansa Cautiously Plan to Resume Some Middle East Flights

An Airbus A320-214 passenger aircraft of Lufthansa airline, takes off from Malaga-Costa del Sol airport, in Malaga, Spain, May 3, 2024. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo
An Airbus A320-214 passenger aircraft of Lufthansa airline, takes off from Malaga-Costa del Sol airport, in Malaga, Spain, May 3, 2024. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo

Germany's Lufthansa Group is set to resume flights to and from Tel Aviv in Israel from Feb. 1 and Wizz Air restarted its London to Tel Aviv route on Thursday, the companies said following a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

Many Western carriers cancelled flights to swaths of the Middle East in recent months, including Beirut and Tel Aviv, as conflict tore across the region. Airlines also avoided Iraqi and Iranian airspace out of fear of getting accidentally caught in drone or missile warfare.

Wizz Air also resumed flights to Amman, Jordan starting on Thursday from London Luton airport.

Lufthansa Group carriers Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, Austrian Airlines and Swiss were included in Lufthansa's decision to resume flights to Tel Aviv.

Ryanair said it was hoping to run a full summer schedule to and from Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv in an interview with Reuters last week, before the ceasefire deal was announced.

In the wake of the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, Turkish Airlines said it would start flights to Damascus, the Syrian capital, on Jan. 23, with three flights per week.

CAUTIOUS RETURN

But airlines remain cautious and watchful before re-entering the region in full, they said.

British carrier EasyJet told Reuters it welcomed the news of the Gaza ceasefire and would review its plans in the coming days.

Air France-KLM said its operations to and from Tel Aviv remain suspended until Jan. 24, while its flights between Paris and Beirut will be suspended until Jan. 31.

"The operations will resume on the basis of an assessment of the situation on the ground," it said in a statement.

The suspension of Lufthansa flights to and from Tehran up to and including Feb. 14 remains in place and the airline will not fly to Beirut in Lebanon up to and including Feb. 28, it said.