US must prevent a new humanitarian disaster in Gaza

Homeless and hungry: Displaced Palestinians camp near the border fence between Gaza and Egypt in Rafah. — AFP

ISRAEL is poised to inflict the largest humanitarian catastrophe yet on desperate Palestinian civilians in Gaza, as its planes strike and troops push into Rafah, the last urban refuge for families fleeing the fighting.

Roughly half of Gaza’s population is now trapped in the southern city up against the Egyptian border – having fled progressively south on Israeli military orders – and is now living in tents or rough on the streets. International aid agencies are frantic.