A World Health Organisation (WHO) official has said the last hospital in Rafah could become non-functional and a substantial number of deaths could be expected if Israel launches a “full incursion” into the southern Gazan city, Reuters reports.

“If the incursion would continue, we would lose the last hospital in Rafah,” Richard Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for Gaza and the West Bank, said on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly in Geneva.

He said that in the case of a “full incursion”, the “contingency plan will not prevent what we expect: substantial additional mortality and morbidity”.