The United Nations announced on Tuesday that Israel issued three fresh evacuation orders for over 19 neighborhoods in the north of Gaza and Deir Al-Balah, bringing the number of massive evacuation orders to 16 in August alone, which leaves only 11 percent of the Gaza Strip untouched by the evacuation orders.
The spokesperson for the United Nations Humanitarian Office (OCHA), Jens Laerke, told reporters in a press briefing in Geneva that the fresh evacuation orders in the 19 neighborhoods will touch “more than 8,000 people staying in these areas, many sheltering in displacement sites”.
Laerke spoke of the drastic implications of these mass evacuations on the Palestinian population in the Strip and aid workers alike.
OCHA’s spokesperson said that the evacuation orders in Deir Al-Balah, which was set as a humanitarian hub after the evacuation of Rafah back in May, have touched humanitarian aid workers and staff of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other service providers along with their families.
“The sum of this is that it effectively upends a whole lifesaving humanitarian hub and that of course, severely impacts our ability to deliver essential support and services,” he explained.
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The fresh displacement orders in Deir Al-Balah “took place at very short notice and in dangerous conditions,” per Laerke.
Based on the concern expressed by humanitarian aid workers in the field in Gaza, the spokesperson revealed that the evacuation order issued on Sunday affected 15 premises hosting UN and NGO aid workers, four UN warehouses, Al-Aqsa hospital, two clinics, three wells, one water reservoir and one desalination plant.
Laerke denied suggestions of stopping their operations in the Gaza Strip despite the huge challenges that face the work of humanitarian aid workers.
“There’s been no decision to halt, there never has been, we’ve been there for 10 months, so it is ongoing where feasible. I want to remind you that only 11 percent of the territory of the Gaza Strip is not under evacuation orders…so we’re trying to work with that number and keep the operation going,” the spokesperson emphasized.
Implications of Evacuation Orders
In its 209 Humanitarian Situation Update published August 26, OCHA stated that the almost daily evacuation orders by the Israeli occupation army further worsen the “humanitarian crisis affecting hundreds of thousands of people.”
The 16 evacuation orders issued during the month of August alone affected around 12 percent of the Palestinian population in Gaza (258,000 people), per the report.
“Evacuation orders and hostilities in close proximity to hospitals and medical points continue to place these vital facilities at risk of becoming non-functional due to insecurity and lack of safe access for patients, ambulances, and health partners to resupply them,” the report read.
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The UN organization quoted Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) as reporting that many people chose to flee from the Al-Aqsa Hospital due to its proximity to the designated evacuation area in Deir Al-Balah, confirming according to numbers provided by the Ministry of Health that 100 patients remain in the medical facility out of the 650.
OCHA has warned last month against the repeated Israeli evacuation orders saying they “will only fuel mass suffering for Palestinian families.”
Ongoing Genocide
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 40,476 Palestinians have been killed, and 93,647 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
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Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(PC, Anadolu)
