OCHA: 9% of Gaza’s population displaced during the past week

Bethlehem - Ma'an - The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that 9% of the population of the Gaza Strip were displaced during the past week alone due to Israeli evacuation orders. The UN office explained that 29,000 people were present in the area that the Israeli army ordered to be evacuated yesterday, Sunday. He added that repeated displacement deprives civilians of the ability to survive in dignity. He said UN humanitarian partners estimate that more than 190,000 Palestinians have been displaced this week from Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah since the evacuation order was issued on Monday. Hundreds more remain trapped east of Khan Younis as fighting continues. The UN office confirmed that the recent evacuation orders and intensified hostilities affected relief operations and undermined efforts to provide essential assistance to civilians in Khan Younis. The UN office said that the continued insecurity and the allocation of only one access point for the entry an d exit of humanitarian workers, namely the Kerem Shalom crossing, undermined efforts to deploy urgently needed emergency medical teams in Gaza to ease the burden on exhausted medical staff in the Strip. Source: Maan News Agency