UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has appealed to Israel and Hamas to spare no effort to get a truce deal and warned Israel that an assault on Rafah would “be a strategic mistake, a political calamity, and a humanitarian nightmare”, Reuters reports.

“I am disturbed and distressed by the renewed military activity in Rafah,” Guterres told reporters. “The closure of both the Rafah and Karem Shalom crossings is especially damaging to an already dire humanitarian situation. They must be re-opened immediately.”