UN relief chief warns against spillover of Palestinians from Rafah into Egypt

By Muhammed Ikbal Arslan

GENEVA (AA) – United Nations Relief Chief Martin Griffiths warned Thursday against a spillover of Palestinians stuck in Rafah into Egypt if Israel launches a military operation against the southern Gaza city.

Over a million people are currently living as refugees in Rafah, said Griffiths, the under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, at a meeting in Geneva.

They had fled Israeli airstrikes and took refuge in tent camps, he noted, saying it would be a "nightmare" if they were forced to cross into Egypt in case of an Israeli attack on the city.

The idea of evacuating Gazans to a safe place is an illusion, he said.

Richard Kozul-Wright, Director of the Globalization and Development Strategies Division of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), suggested that reconstructing Gaza would require a new "Marshall Plan."

He noted that the damage in Gaza was already four times that endured in the enclave during the seven-week Israeli war on Gaza in 2014.

Kozul-Wright estimated Gaza’s post-war reconstruction at $20 billion, based on current satellite images and other information.

*Writing by Nur Asena Erturk in Ankara