Thousands of Palestinian Refugees Flee UNRWA Shelters in Rafah amid Israel’s Defiant Onslaught

Forced displacement has pushed over a million people away from the Gazan city of Rafah, the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) said on Monday, as Israeli forces continue their military operations despite international demand for a ceasefire.

More details in the following report:

According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), all 36 of its shelters in the city of Rafah have been abandoned as families flee the area due to “Israeli Forces operations.”

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini stated that over one million people have now been forced to seek safety elsewhere, with the agency forced to suspend its crucial health and other services in the region.

The UN refugee agency renewed its call for an immediate ceasefire, warning that the “humanitarian space continues to shrink” as the conflict escalates. Lazzarini noted that UNRWA is now operating from the Khan Younis and central Gaza areas, where an estimated 1.7 million people are currently living.

The current Israeli offensive on Gaza, which began last October following a Hamas attack, has had extremely devastating consequences. Local health authorities report that over 36,400 people have been killed, the majority of whom are women and children, with more than 82,600 others injured.

Israel’s actions have also been met with international condemnation, with the International Court of Justice accusing the country of genocide and ordering an immediate halt to the operation in Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the violence.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that it was a “tragic mistake” that an attack targeting Hamas militants in the southern Gaza city of Rafah killed 45 Palestinians sheltering in a refugee camp there and wounded another 200.

Volker Turk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, decried the incident, condemning Israel’s total disregard for civilian lives.

In this regard, the Freemuslim Association released a statement on the UN’s International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression (marked on June 4), calling upon the international community to urgently intervene to stop the Israeli war on Gaza Strip and the atrocities faced by innocent civilians.