U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a news conference at the G7 meeting in Italy on Friday that the Biden administration “cannot support significant military action” in Rafah.

“First of all, there are currently about 1.4 million people in Rafah, many of whom have been displaced from other parts of Gaza. People have to be able to escape any conflict, and doing so is a difficult task for us. We have not seen a plan yet,” Blinken said. “Not only keeping them out of harm’s way, but making sure they have access to humanitarian assistance.”

Blinken also said that even if people are largely unharmed, major military operations will inevitably have “dire consequences” for the civilians who remain there.

In discussions on Thursday, Israeli officials agreed to consider U.S. concerns about its planned military action in the southern Gaza city, a White House statement said.

Israel continues to bomb Gaza

Meanwhile, Israel has reportedly bombed much of the Gaza Strip from air, land and sea, causing civilian casualties, displacement and the destruction of homes and other civilian infrastructure.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for more humanitarian aid to Gaza during a briefing to the United Nations Security Council on Thursday.

“To avoid looming famine and further preventable deaths from disease, we need to make a giant leap in providing humanitarian aid to the Palestinians in Gaza,” he said. “…delivering aid at scale requires Israel’s comprehensive and aggressive commitment to humanitarian Action is facilitated.”

Guterres also said Israel’s commitment to improving aid access to Gaza would have “limited and sometimes zero impact.”

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that fighting, road damage and the proliferation of unexploded ordnance pose significant risks to humanitarian workers working to deliver aid in Gaza.

“The agency warns that the only way to stop famine is to deliver food every day,” U.N. secretary-general spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Thursday. “This requires creating conditions that allow the free movement of humanitarian workers and supplies. and enable those in need to receive assistance safely.”

The United States and Israel said access to aid had improved this month. Food trucks entered Gaza from the Israeli port of Ashdod through the Erez crossing for the first time since Israel approved opening aid shipments, the Israeli military said on Wednesday.

The United Arab Emirates said on Friday it had launched a major rescue operation in the destroyed city of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip and planned to repair the Nasser Medical Center in Khan Younis so that it “can resume work,” WAM news agency said.

Dominic Allen, the UNFPA representative in Gaza, said a recent UN-led mission that surveyed 10 struggling hospitals in Gaza found many “in ruins” and only a few offering any level of care. Maternal health services had their vital medical equipment deliberately destroyed. Palestine.

UNICEF also reported that a child is killed or injured every 10 minutes in Gaza, according to Hamas health ministry data, and stressed the urgent need to increase medical evacuations of children.

Iran calls veto ‘irresponsible’

Tehran on Friday condemned a U.S. veto on Thursday of blocking the Palestinians from formally joining the United Nations, calling it “irresponsible” because it was not opposed by any other Security Council member.

Hamas also condemned the decision, while the Palestinian Authority said it showed “the contradiction in US policy”, which claims to support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but at the same time “blocks the implementation of this solution” .

On Thursday night, the United States cast a veto in the Security Council to prevent the United Nations from recognizing a Palestinian state. Britain and Switzerland abstained from voting, while the remaining 12 council members voted in favor.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that the war between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East may escalate, noting that Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has turned the Palestinian territory into a “humanitarian hell”.

The health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza says Israeli military operations have killed nearly 34,000 Palestinians since the war began. The ministry said two-thirds of the victims were women and children.

Israel launched the offensive after Hamas launched a terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people, according to Israeli data. The militants also took about 250 people hostage.

In November, more than 100 hostages were released during a four-day pause in fighting. Israel says about 130 hostages remain in custody, but a quarter of them are dead. Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, Britain, the European Union and other countries.

Some information for this report comes from the Associated Press, AFP and Reutersrs.