GENEVA, May 1. /TASS/. Israel would set off a humanitarian disaster if it goes ahead with a military operation in the Gaza Strip city of Rafah, World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

"A full scale invasion on Rafah would be a humanitarian catastrophe," he said on X. "We appeal to Israel not to proceed. We urge all parties to work for a ceasefire and lasting peace."

The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated following an incursion of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7, accompanied by killings of residents of Israeli settlements near the border and taking more than 200 hostages, including children, women and elderly people. Hamas cast the attack as a response to Israeli actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Israel declared a complete siege of the Gaza Strip and started striking the enclave and parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.