GENEVA, Feb 13 (Reuters) – The U.N. humanitarian office has not received any communication from Israel of a plan to evacuate Gaza’s Rafah area either alone or jointly and would not participate in any forced evacuation even if it did, a spokesperson told Reuters on Tuesday.

“We have not received any official communication from Israeli officials,” Jens Laerke, spokesperson for OCHA said in response to Reuters questions about Rafah plans. “Regardless, the UN does not participate in forced, non-voluntary evacuations. There is no plan at this time to facilitate the evacuation of civilians,” he said.

Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy previously called for U.N. agencies to “to cooperate with Israel’s efforts to protect civilians from Hamas and evacuate them from a warzone where terrorists are trying to use them as human shields.” (Reporting by Emma Farge; additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem;)