The United Nations humanitarian coordinator has said that an Israeli assault on Rafah would leave Gaza aid distribution “broken” as the organisation would be unable to prepare enough supplies for the already displaced people fleeing the area, Reuters reports.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva via video link from Jerusalem, Jamie McGoldrick said the UN humanitarian body could not plan its Gaza aid operation for more than two or three days ahead because of conditions he described as uncertain and unstable.

“It would be a really difficult scenario for us to envisage the possibility of hundreds of thousands of people being forced from Rafah because of the incursion,” he said.

“We are not in a position to contingency plan that. We’re not in a position to pre-position shelter, material, food, medical supplies and especially water… It will be a real problem for us.

“If there was to be an incursion, that [aid] system we have, which is already precarious and intermittent, would then be broken,” said McGoldrick.