UNICEF Reminds Israel About The Fate Of Children In Rafah, There Is No More Safe Place In Gaza

ILLUSTRATION/DOK UNICEF via news.un.org

JAKARTA - UNICEF warned Israel of the insistence that residents in Rafah, Gaza, evacuate or be evacuated. UNICEF highlights the fate of children who no longer have a safe place in Gaza.

"Rafah is now a city for children, who have no safe place to go to Gaza," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell as quoted by CNN, Monday, May 6.

"If large-scale military operations begin, children will not only be at risk of violence, but also chaos and panic when their physical and mental conditions have weakened," he added.

Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) urged residents in the eastern Rafah to evacuate immediately, a day after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant told troops in Gaza there would be an "intensive action" in the southern city "in the near future".

The evacuation is preparation for a limited-scale operation in the East Rafah region, said IDF international spokesman Colonel Nadav Shoshani.

Children are recorded to be half of Rafah's current 1.2 million population, many of whom have fled several times and took shelter in tents or informal and unstable housing, according to UNICEF.

The UN agency said children were killed and injured, citing the Palestinian Ministry of Health who said more than 14,000 children had been killed since October 2023.