More than 190,000 Palestinians displaced this week in Gaza cities: UN

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - An Israeli evacuation order has displaced at least 190,000 people in the cities of the Gaza Strip this week, a UN official said on Friday.

"Our humanitarian partners estimate that more than 190,000 Palestinians have been displaced this week in Khan Younis and Deir al Balah since Monday’s evacuation order," UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters.

Hundreds of others remain stranded in eastern Khan Younis as the fighting continues, Haq added.

"The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says recent evacuation directives and intense hostilities have destabilized aid operations and hampered efforts to provide critical relief to civilians in Khan Younis," he said.

This week, a dozen distribution points for food and eight for cooked meals were forced to halt their operations, and nutrition programs at two shelters supporting more than 2,800 children and pregnant women were also disrupted, he said.

Citing OCHA, Haq said ongoing insecurity and the designation of only one access point, the Kerem Shalom crossing, for the entry and exit of humanitarian staff into and out of Gaza have hampered efforts to deploy additional emergency medical teams in Gaza.

"These workers are critically needed to help support the exhausted local health force," he said, underlining that none of Gaza’s 36 hospitals is "fully functioning."

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 Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

Nearly 39,200 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 90,400 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.