Item 1 of 2 Mourners react next to the bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, at Abu Yousef al-Najjar hospital in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 3, 2024.
Israel has given Washington some preliminary information, said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, but "we haven't seen a full plan, nothing that would give us the confidence we're looking for." OCHA would do everything possible to ensure aid operations continued, even in the event of an incursion, and was studying how to do that, he added.
"I want to really say that this contingency plan is a band-aid," said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the occupied Palestinian territory via video link. "It will absolutely not prevent the expected substantial additional mortality and morbidity caused by a military operation."