The United Nations Office of Humanitarian Affairs also warned about the consequences of a ground invasion of Rafah where nearly one and a half million displaced Palestinians are taking shelter in camps or bombed-out buildings.
"Under international humanitarian law, indiscriminate bombing of populated areas may constitute a war crime," Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said at a briefing in the Swiss city of Geneva.
He added that “the escalation of hostilities in Rafah in this situation can lead to massive civilian casualties, and we must do everything in our power to prevent it”.
OCHA recently reported that intense Israeli bombardment from air, land, and sea continues across much of the Gaza Strip, resulting in further civilian casualties, displacement, and destruction of civilian infrastructure.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has also informed that about one million three hundred thousand displaced Palestinians are in the streets of Rafah.
The warning from UN agencies came as Israeli warplanes and artillery keep pounding Rafah where over half of Gaza's 2.3 million people are now living, mostly in makeshift tents.
Rafah had been declared as a “safe zone” by the Zionist regime’s army and according to the UN humanitarian office, the influx of thousands of internally displaced into Rafah was due to intense fighting in Khan Younis, combined with reports of an increase in strikes in Rafah over the past days.
The UN humanitarian office said that the influx of thousands of internally displaced persons into Rafah was due to intense fighting in Khan Younis, combined with reports of an increase in strikes in Rafah on Monday and Sunday.
On Tuesday, four more people including two kids were killed after the regime’s airstrikes hit a house and the vicinity of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
The Gaza Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday that 27,585 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and nearly 67,000 others have been injured since the Zionist regime launched its genocidal war on October 7.