RIYADH: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan stressed the need for humanitarian efforts in Rafah with his Iranian counterpart Amir Abdollahian in a phone call on Friday, Saudi state news agency SPA reported.

Israel has said it will mount an offensive to take out Hamas’s “last bastion” in Rafah, where well over 1 million Palestinians have sought sanctuary from its devastating Gaza offensive.

Israel has said its army is drawing up a plan to evacuate civilians from Rafah to other parts of the Gaza Strip.

But UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said on Thursday it was an “illusion” to think people in Gaza could evacuate to a safe place and warned of the possibility of Palestinians spilling into Egypt if Israel launches a military operation in Rafah.

Egypt is preparing an area at the Gaza border which could accommodate Palestinians in case an Israeli offensive into Rafah prompts an exodus across the frontier, four sources said, in what they described as a contingency move by Cairo.

The ministers additionally reviewed bilateral relations between the two countries and discussed other regional and international developments.