150,000 people fled areas in Khan Younis on July 22: UN

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - More civilians have been fleeing from Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip following an Israeli evacuation order, a UN spokesman said Tuesday.

"Yesterday, about 150,000 people fled areas in Khan Younis, as assessed by humanitarian colleagues monitoring population movements in the area," Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) expressed concerns about the short interval between the dropping of leaflets announcing the evacuation order and the escalation of military operations, which posed "significant risks" to those fleeing, he added.

"OCHA reminds us that each evacuation order profoundly disrupts people's lives. People have been forced to move into areas with little to no infrastructure, where there is very limited access to shelter, health, sanitation or other life-saving humanitarian assistance," said Dujarric, stressing that evacuation orders also upend humanitarian operations.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, in early October.

More than 38,800 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 89,400 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.