Dire warning: Children in Rafah are on the "edge of survival"

The closure prevented the delivery of humanitarian aid, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned in its latest report.

“Given the high concentration of children in Rafah, UNICEF is warning of a further catastrophe for children, with military operations resulting in very high civilian casualties and the few remaining basic services and infrastructure they need to survive being totally destroyed,” the UN children’s agency said in a statement.

The statement said that an average of 48 humanitarian aid trucks and 166,000 liters of diesel entered the Gaza Strip per day until Israeli tanks seized the Palestinian border crossing of Rafah on Tuesday.

UNICEF estimates that Rafah’s population has swelled to nearly five times its normal figure of 250,000 residents.

"Continuing the blockade of the entry of humanitarian goods through the Rafah crossing and the continuation of hostilities would have serious consequences for access to food," warns the UN report, Al Jazeera reported.

The latest report reiterates an earlier warning by the UN children's agency, UNICEF, that a large number of children out of a total of more than 600,000 children in Rafah are already on the "edge of survival" and that further Israeli offensives would expose children to "disastrous risks".