Baghdad: The United Nations warned on Saturday that the Israeli attack on Gaza City will have a horrific impact on the population throughout the Strip if it escalates.

According to National Iraqi News Agency, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stressed in a statement the need to further enable life-saving relief operations and not back down. Furthermore, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee south is a recipe for another disaster and could amount to forced displacement.

He noted that “aid workers continue to face obstacles in their movements within the Strip,” noting that one in four of these movements, which were fully coordinated with the authorities and initially approved, encountered obstacles that prevented their full completion. These obstacles undermined plans to collect shipments from the crossings and carry out urgently needed road repairs.

For his part, the Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General (St©phane Dujarric) confirmed, “The United Nations and its partners remain in Gaza City to provide life-saving support, committed to serving people wherever they are. The United Nations expects its work to be fully facilitated, and reminds the parties of the need to protect civilians, including aid workers, at all times,” stressing “the need to protect humanitarian facilities and other civilian infrastructure.”