Middle-East

UN says attacks on sheltering families in Gaza is 'horrifying'

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, take shelter in a tent camp, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, February 14, 2024. (Photo: Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)

By Lucy Mumbi | Monday, May 27, 2024

"There are reports of mass casualties, including children and women, among those killed. Gaza is hell on earth,” the UN organisation said.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), on Monday, termed the attacks on families seeking shelter in Rafah, in the southern tip of the Gaza Strip, "horrifying."

In a tweet on social media platform X, the agency reported mass casualties, including children and women among those killed.

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“Information coming out of Rafah about further attacks on families seeking shelter is horrifying. There are reports of mass casualties, including children and women among those killed. Gaza is hell on earth. Images from last night are yet another testament to that,” the UN organisation said.

UNRWA also highlighted the lack of communication with their colleagues on the ground, expressing deep concern for their safety and that of the displaced individuals in the area.

“We are not able to confirm their location and are extremely concerned for their wellbeing, and the wellbeing of all the displaced people sheltering in this area. No place is safe. No one is safe,” it added.

On Sunday the Palestinian health and civil emergency service officials said Israeli airstrikes killed at least 35 Palestinians and wounded dozens in an area in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah designated for the displaced.

Gaza's Health Ministry indicated that women and children were among the majority of the casualties.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society spokesperson noted that the death toll could rise as search and rescue operations continued in the Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood, about two kilometres northwest of Rafah's city centre.

It added that the area had been designated by Israel as a "humanitarian area," not included in the previously ordered evacuation zones.

The airstrike came hours after Hamas launched a rocket barrage from Gaza, triggering air raid sirens in Tel Aviv for the first time in months, marking continued resilience over seven months into Israel's extensive offensive.

Meanwhile, last week, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to cease its military offensive in Rafah, where over half of Gaza's 2.3 million residents had sought refuge. Despite the exodus, tens of thousands remain stranded in Rafah.

Judges at the court also ordered Israel to withdraw from the enclave, in the case filed by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide.

"Israel must immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part,” ICJ president Nawaf Salam ordered.

Palestinian U.N. Ambassador, Riyad Mansour, and representatives of other Arab nations welcomed the ruling and called for its prompt enforcement to address the escalating humanitarian crisis in Rafah.

"We welcome these provisional measures, including stopping the military operation in Rafah. We believe that the provisional measures of the ICJ also previously asked for stopping all military operations in the Gaza Strip and stopping these crimes and potential crimes of genocide against our people in the Gaza Strip," Mansour stated.