UN official says ‘all hope is gone’ if Israeli offensive on Gaza City goes ahead

Director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza Sam Rose speaks during an interview at his office in Brussels (Virginia Mayo/AP)

If Israel’s military goes ahead with a planned offensive in Gaza City, then “all hope is gone that we’re ever going to see the end to this”, a United Nations official has told The Associated Press.

Israel says the evacuation of Gaza’s most populated city is “inevitable”, adding to international alarm for hundreds of thousands of people there as famine – documented and declared – threatens to spread after 22 months of war.