A ground invasion into Rafah poses “catastrophic risks” to the hundreds of thousands of children taking shelter in the area, the United Nations Children’s Fund has said according to Al Jazeera.

“Rafah is now a city of children, who have nowhere safe to go in Gaza. If large-scale military operations start, not only will children be at risk from the violence, but also from chaos and panic, and at a time where their physical and mental states are already weakened,” Unicef Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement.

“More than 200 days of war have taken an unimaginable toll on the lives of children.”

Unicef said children in Gaza are being “disproportionately” killed and wounded while suffering “more acutely from disruptions to healthcare and education”.