On 28th of May, 245 people were urgently evacuated from the SOS Children’s Village in Rafah to the central Gaza Strip due to a dramatically heightened security risk at the location of the Children´s Village. With the emergency relocation SOS Children´s Village Rafah will cease to be a humanitarian hub for the local community and IDPs in the city of Rafah. “It is SOS Children’s Villages’ clear intention to re-establish the vital humanitarian support for the local population in the Gaza Strip as soon as possible”, says Ghada Hirzallah, the National Director of SOS Children´s Villages in Palestine.

The now displaced group includes children, staff, former program participants and their families. All of them have reached the provisional new location, which is situated within the area designated as a “safe zone”. We note with extreme concern that previously designated humanitarian “safe zones” have been targets of deadly strikes. Accordingly, all areas in Gaza Strip are unsafe currently.

We therefore call on all parties to the war to protect civilians as is their duty according to international humanitarian law.