The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said that the rate of evacuating children from the Gaza Strip for medical reasons decreased from 296 to 22 children per month, following Israel's control of the Rafah border gate on May 7.

"The rate of evacuating children from Gaza at the present time is less than one child per day," UN spokesman James Elder said during a press conference held at the UN office in Geneva yesterday.

"If this deadly slow pace continues, it will take more than 7 years to evacuate 2,500 children in need of urgent medical care," he added.

The UN official stressed that children in Gaza are not only dying because of bombs and bullets, but also because they do not receive the necessary medical care.