(Bloomberg) -- No amount of planning or aid deliveries can justify an Israeli offensive into Rafah, the Gaza city where more than 1 million Palestinians are seeking refuge as the death toll from the Israel-Hamas war continues to rise, the United Nations humanitarian chief  said Tuesday.

“These improvements in bringing more aid into Gaza cannot be used to prepare for or justify a full-blown military assault on Rafah,” Under-Secretary General Martin Griffiths said in a statement. “A ground operation in Rafah will be nothing short of a tragedy beyond words. No humanitarian plan can counter that.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been in the Middle East this week in part to step up efforts to secure a cease-fire in what could be a final chance to persuade Israel to call off an attack on Rafah. A truce would be “the most effective way” to protect civilians and achieve lasting peace, Blinken told reporters Tuesday. 

Allies have been pushing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to put off a long-planned incursion into Rafah that officials say would be necessary to destroy Hamas, which carried out an assault on Israel last Oct. 7 that killed some 1,200 people. Israel’s retaliatory campaign in the Gaza Strip has since then killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in the territory.

Hamas, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the US and European Union, also seized 250 hostages. Griffiths said those that remain “are yet to be released. Famine is taking hold. The rules of war continue to be flouted.”

Earlier Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it’s important for allies like the US to “put all possible pressure” on Israel to avoid “what would be an absolutely devastating tragedy.”

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