A full-scale Israeli military operation in Rafah would deliver a death blow to aid programmes in Gaza, where humanitarian assistance remains “completely insufficient”, the UN chief has warned.

Speaking before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Antonio Guterres said that Gaza’s southernmost city, where more than 1.4 million Palestinians are crowded together in tent cities, was “the core of the humanitarian aid operation” in the Palestinian territory.

“An all-out Israeli offensive on the city would not only be terrifying for more than a million Palestinian civilians sheltering there; it would put the final nail in the coffin of our aid programmes,” he said.

He said that once a ground invasion happens, victory would be just “weeks away”, and that a potential ceasefire, being discussed in Doha, would only delay the operation.