UNICEF on Tuesday said the city of children, Rafah, "must not be invaded," urging the continuation of humanitarian aid flow into Gaza.
"Our worst fear - Gazans' nightmare - appears to be a reality. A reality that those holding power have the ability to prevent," spokesperson James Elder told a UN press briefing in Geneva.
Elder noted that every warning and every "mind-boggling piece of data" on the number of children and mothers killed and of homes and hospitals destroyed" are all ignored.
Underlining that Rafah is a city of children as more than half of the children in Gaza live in Rafah, he said: "This past weekend's events in Gaza - the continued killing of children, more attacks from the warring parties, and now evacuation orders – yet again expose how parties to this conflict continue to utterly disregard the lives and protection of children and civilians."
"That has to change. Indeed, this is the last chance for this to change," he urged, and added: "Aid must flow. Hostages must be freed. Rafah must not be invaded. And children must no longer be killed."
He reiterated UNICEF's call for cessation of hostilities, saying: "For the children of Rafah, we need a cease-fire, now."
- 'Hard to avert famine if Rafah gate closes for extended period'
The spokesperson underlined that Rafah is the entry point for most of the aid entering Gaza.
"A military assault will, at best, greatly complicate aid delivery. If Rafah gate closes for an extended period, it's hard to see how famine in Gaza can be averted," Elder warned.
He also said Rafah is home to what is now Gaza's "largest remaining hospital," the European Hospital, and said: "Amid the systematic devastation of Gaza's health system, Rafah's European Hospital is one of civilians' last lifelines."
The situation in Rafah is also not bright and "staggeringly much worse," as there is about one toilet for every 850 people and one shower for every 3,500 people, and now that families have been told to move, Elder noted.
He added that hundreds of thousands of children in Rafah have a disability, medical condition, or vulnerability that puts them in even "greater jeopardy," and makes it much more difficult for them to relocate.
The Israeli army early on Tuesday said its forces have seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
Following the Palestinian Hamas group's announcement of accepting a Qatari-Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza, Israel's War Cabinet decided to push ahead with an operation in Rafah.
The Israeli army issued immediate evacuation orders early Monday for Palestinians in the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah and called on them to move to the town of al-Mawasi in southern Gaza.
Rafah is home to more than 1.5 million displaced Palestinians who have taken refuge from the war launched by Israel following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that killed nearly 1,200 people.
Since then, the Israeli onslaught has killed more than 34,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, besides causing a humanitarian catastrophe.
Nearly seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave's population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine, according to the UN.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians there.
