'False claims' made that UN plans to build new shelters in Gaza, official says

The number of Palestinian civilians being killed by Israel is “rapidly increasing” a UN official said on Monday, as he warned that "false claims" were being spread that the UN plans to build additional shelters in Rafah.

“The number of civilians killed is rapidly increasing. Civilians, including men, women, children, older persons, the sick and people with disabilities are the most to suffer,” Unrwa commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement. 

Israel’s forced displacement of Palestinians has crammed people into what is less than one-third of the Gaza Strip’s 365 square km territory.

Israel’s recent order for Palestinians to move from Khan Younis to Rafah forced an additional 60,000 people to uproot to Unrwa shelters, Lazzarini added.

“The order created panic, fear and anxiety,” he said. “[Palestinians] need everything:  food, water, shelter, and mostly safety. Roads to the south are clogged.”

Lazzarini also said that “claims that the UN has thousands of tents and plans to open new refugee camps in Rafah are false”.

“We have said it repeatedly. We are saying it again. No place is safe in Gaza, whether in the south, or the southwest, whether in Rafah or in any unilaterally so-called ‘safe zone’”