UN Women warned on Monday that a military operation in Rafah will exacerbate the plight of 700,000 women and girls who have been sheltering in the southern Gaza area during the months-long Israel-Hamas war.
With the situation in Rafah already critical, the UN entity has warned that any Israeli ground operation will only cause more despair, according to the “Alarabiya” website.
“With the population of the southern city of Rafah, in Gaza, ballooning fivefold, from 250,000 to 1.4 million people in just seven months of war, the physical and mental health conditions of women and girls have been deteriorating rapidly, as new data collected by UN Women reveals,” a statement from the organization said.
“The imminent risk of death and injuries among Rafah’s 700,000 women and girls will escalate with any ground invasion, as they have nowhere to go to escape the bombing and killing,” it added.
The statement came as developments on the ground showed that an Israeli invasion of Rafah was edging closer.
Israeli forces on Monday ordered Gazans in parts of Rafah to evacuate. On Tuesday, the Israeli military took operational control of the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to send troops into Rafah despite global cries urging him not to do so.
UN Women said since the start of the war, more than 10,000 women have been killed, including 6,000 mothers who have left 19,000 orphaned children behind.
Palestinian women react as they sit on the rubble of a residential building housing their apartments, following an Israeli raid, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, on April 18, 2024. (Reuters)
“Women and girls in Rafah, as in the rest of Gaza, are in a state of constant despair and fear already,” UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous said.
“A ground invasion would be an unbearable escalation that risks killing thousands more civilians and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee again,” Bahous added.
UN Women said its survey data sheds light on the devastating reality of life for women and girls in Rafah.
According to data in the statement, 93 percent of women respondents said they felt unsafe in their homes or displaced locations.
More than 80 percent of women reported feelings of depression, 66 percent said they were unable to sleep, and more than 70 percent said they had heightened anxiety and nightmares.
