The Palestinian leader, who is in the Saudi capital to attend the World Economic Forum, said he expects an assault in Gaza’s southern city in the coming days.

More than 1.4 million people are crammed in Rafah. Considering such population density, human rights groups and UN agencies have repeatedly warned that any military operation there would cause a humanitarian disaster.

An Israeli ground invasion of Rafah would force most of the Palestinian population to flee Gaza, says Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Abbas told a special meeting of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh that about 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering in Rafah and only a “small strike” would force those people to flee.

“The biggest catastrophe in the Palestinian people’s history would then happen,” he said. “We call on the United States of America to ask Israel to not carry on the Rafah attack. America is the only country able to prevent Israel from committing this crime.”

Abbas reiterated he rejects the displacement of Palestinians into Jordan and Egypt, and said he’s concerned once Israel completes its operation in Gaza, it will attempt to force the Palestinian population out of the occupied West Bank and into Jordan.

Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi is in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank for the latest.

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