Gaza, 4 May 2024 (dpa/MIA) - The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of dire consequences if Israel goes ahead with an impending military operation in Rafah.

The planned push into the southern border city of Rafah would lead to "a bloodbath," the organization wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

More than 1.2 million people were currently sheltering in the area, many unable to move anywhere else, the WHO said.

"A new wave of displacement would exacerbate overcrowding, further limiting access to food, water, health and sanitation services, leading to increased disease outbreaks, worsening levels of hunger, and additional loss of lives."

Only 33% of Gaza’s 36 hospitals and 30% of primary health care centres were functional in some capacity amid repeated attacks and shortages of vital medical supplies, fuel, and staff, the WHO said.

"WHO calls for an immediate and lasting ceasefire and the removal of the obstacles to the delivery of urgent humanitarian assistance into and across Gaza, at the scale that is required."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is determined to launch an offensive in Rafah to eliminate the remaining strongholds of Hamas, though Israel's allies have repeatedly urged caution, as a large majority of the approximately 2.2 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip have fled to the south during the war.