UN Warns of “Catastrophe” for Gaza Children if Military Operation Proceeds
The United Nations issued a dire warning on Friday about the potential consequences of a military operation in the Gaza city of Rafah, emphasizing the grave threat it poses to the lives of an estimated 600,000 children in the region, Anadolu Agency reported.
Citing reports from UNICEF, UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq said a military incursion into Rafah “would bring catastrophe on top of catastrophe” for the children there. Haq noted that “nearly all of the some 600,000 children in Rafah are either injured, sick, malnourished, traumatized, or living with disabilities.”
The World Health Organization also underscored the precarious state of healthcare facilities in Rafah, revealing that three out of the 12 partially functioning hospitals in Gaza are located in the region. WHO warned that these facilities “will quickly become non-functional if there’s a military incursion into Rafah, and then a full-scale military operation into Rafah could lead to a bloodbath.”
Haq also addressed issues with a recent humanitarian aid convoy from Jordan that was attacked by civilians in the occupied West Bank, though the convoy later reached Gaza. He expressed confirmation of local authorities’ respect for such convoys, stating that the redirection of one convoy was a communication error that was promptly corrected.
