UNRWA : We Won’t Abandon Gazans Sheltering in Rafah

Amid reports that 100,000 Palestinians have been told to leave Rafah ahead of an anticipated Israeli military operation in Gaza’s southernmost city, UN humanitarians on Monday insisted that they had no intention of quitting the vital aid hub.
“An Israeli offensive in Rafah would mean more civilian suffering and deaths. The consequences would be devastating for 1.4 million people,” wrote the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, in a post on X. “UNRWA is not evacuating: the agency will maintain a presence in Rafah as long as possible and will continue providing lifesaving aid to people.”
Echoing that alert, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that “a military besiegement and ground incursion in Rafah would pose catastrophic risks to the 600,000 children” sheltering there.

Many “are highly vulnerable and at the edge of survival”, the UN agency said in a statement, highlighting increased violence in Rafah and the fact that potential evacuation corridors were “likely mined or littered with unexploded ordnance”.
Any military move on Rafah will likely result in very high civilian casualties while also destroying “the few remaining basic services and infrastructure” that people need to survive, UNICEF insisted.