Hungary blocked a joint EU appeal to the Israeli government not to launch a full-scale ground offensive into Rafah, multiple EU diplomats confirmed to dpa.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell pushed for the joint appeal on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference and said he hoped unanimity could be reached to “formally” urge Israel not to invade the southern Gaza city.

Instead Borrell had to issue a statement alone as the European Union’s top diplomat, calling on the “Israeli government not to take military action in Rafah that would worsen an already catastrophic humanitarian situation.”

More than 1 million Palestinians currently live in Rafah, which has been turned into a sprawling tent city on the border with Egypt. Most of them are refugees displaced from other parts of the Gaza Strip.

Many of Israel’s allies, including the US, Britain and Germany, have expressed fears that a ground invasion could dramatically worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in the area.