Nearly 86% of Gaza Strip under Israeli evacuation orders: UN

By Merve Aydogan

HAMILTON, Canada (AA) — The UN on Monday highlighted the extensiveness of the Israeli military's evacuation orders in the Gaza Strip, saying they cover nearly 86% of the enclave.

"Our colleagues from the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned that repeated waves of displacement, combined with overcrowding, insecurity, crumbling infrastructure, and active hostilities and limited services is worsening the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which is already catastrophic," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters at a news conference.

Dujarric noted that the latest Israeli evacuation order, issued Saturday, has impacted about 13,500 displaced Palestinians across 18 sites. The order includes the entire Al-Maghazi refugee camp and several neighborhoods in Gaza's central Deir al-Balah region.

"Initial mapping indicates that the areas newly placed under evacuation order include five school buildings, 14 water sanitation and health facilities, and 10 health sites, including two primary health care centers and five medical points," he said.

"Since October, 86% of the Gaza Strip, or roughly 314 square kilometers (over 121 square miles), has been placed under evacuation orders," Dujarric stated, adding that people are being concentrated in a zone designated by Israeli authorities in the southern area of Al-Mawasi, where the population density has surged between 30,000 and 34,000 people per square kilometer.

Dujarric also conveyed a World Humanitarian Day message by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, saying that humanitarian aid workers "are striving to alleviate hardship and pain" of those suffering worldwide.

He said 2023 "was the deadliest year on record for humanitarian personnel."

"In Gaza, in Sudan, and in many other places, humanitarian workers are being attacked, killed, injured, and abducted, alongside the civilians they support."

Demanding an end to attacks on all aid workers and civilians, the UN chief said: "Celebrating humanitarians is not enough. We must all do more to protect and safeguard our common humanity."