Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, Gaza hostage release and sustained cessation proposal

As civilians brace themselves for a potentially imminent Israeli incursion into the border city of Rafah, several non-governmental organizations have issued warnings about the humanitarian consequences for the city.

The Israel Defense Forces will “soon go into Rafah, Hamas’s last bastion,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday. The US would not support an Israeli military operation in Rafah “without serious planning,” US State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said Thursday.

An estimated 1.3 million people are currently in Rafah, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has estimated.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC): Rafah could soon turn “into a zone of bloodshed and destruction that people won’t be able to escape,” it said in a press release Thursday. “Attacks in areas where they provide food, water and shelter means this life-saving support will be impeded, if not entirely stopped,” cautioned Angelita Caredda, an NRC regional director.

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF): The UN agency also shared its fears for the over 600,000 children sheltering in Rafah, many of whom have “been displaced from other parts of Gaza.”

As months of heavy fighting in the north have practically wiped out healthcare and humanitarian facilities in the north, officials are calling for the scant services that remain in the south to be protected.

“We need Gaza’s last remaining hospitals, shelters, markets and water systems to stay functional. Without them, hunger and disease will skyrocket, taking more child lives,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell implored in a statement published Thursday.