ISTANBUL
UN officials, including the General Assembly president, UNICEF chief, and the UN emergency relief coordinator, have condemned Israel’s Sunday attack on a camp for displaced people in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza.
Saying that he is “horrified” over Israel’s attacks on Rafah, UN General Assembly President Dennis Francis noted: “There is no safe place left for the civilians.”
Francis also urged Israel to comply with the International Court of Justice orders and international humanitarian law, and to halt its operations in Gaza.
“Images of burned children & families emerging from bombed tents in Rafah shocks us all. The reported killing of children sheltering in makeshift tents is unconscionable. For over 7 months, we’ve witnessed this tragedy unfold, resulting in thousands of children killed or injured,” Director of UNICEF Catherine Russel said on X.
She also urged for an immediate cease-fire, along with the unconditional release of all hostages, and an “end to the senseless killing of children.”
Stating that Israel’s attack on Rafah resulted in the deaths of people, with many women and children burned alive, Martin Griffiths said: “Such impunity cannot continue.”
He called for civilians to be protected, to let them find security and receive aid.
“We are still unable to pick up goods from Kerem Shalom at the scale needed due to impediments and active fighting,” Griffiths added on X.
The UN “repeatedly” said that “no place in Gaza is safe – not shelters, not hospitals, not the so-called humanitarian zones,” Griffiths noted, adding that the UN also warned that a military operation in Rafah would result in a “slaughter.”
“Whether the attack was a war crime or a ‘tragic mistake,’ for the people of Gaza, there is no debate. What happened last night was the latest – and possibly most cruel – abomination,” Griffiths said in a statement.
“To call it ‘a mistake’ is a message that means nothing for those killed, those grieving, and those trying to save lives,” he added.
At least 45 people were killed, mostly women and children, and nearly 250 others injured in the Israeli strike on the camp on Sunday.
The attack occurred near the logistics base of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Tal al-Sultan, said the Gaza-based Government Media Office.
Israel has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year.
The military campaign has turned much of the enclave of 2.3 million people into ruins, leaving most civilians homeless and at risk of famine.
The latest attack came despite a ruling by the International Court of Justice that ordered Israel to halt its offensive in Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the Israel-Hamas war before it was invaded on May 6.
