UN HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE CONDEMNS IDF’S GAZA EVACUATION ORDERS AMIDST ONGOING MILITARY OPERATIONS

The UN Human Rights Office on Tuesday published the following statement titled 'Gaza City': The UN Human Rights Office is appalled as IDF once more orders residents of Gaza City, many of whom have been forcibly displaced multiple times, to evacuate to areas where IDF military operations are ongoing and where civilians continue to be killed and injured. On 7 July, IDF issued an order to civilians in areas of central parts of Gaza City, including At Tuffah and Ad Daraj, to immediately evacuate to the west of Gaza City. While issuing this evacuation order, the IDF intensified its strikes in the south and west of Gaza City, targeting the very areas where they had instructed people to move to. In the morning of 8 July, IDF issued a statement confirming that they had hit an UNRWA HQ located west of Gaza City, again in the area where people had been told to relocate. Later, on 8 July, IDF issued another order calling people in parts of Gaza City, including those in its western part, to further evacuate to Deir al Balah -which is already seriously overcrowded with Palestinians displaced from other areas of the Gaza Strip and where there is little infrastructure and limited access to humanitarian assistance. Palestinians have nowhere left to shelter. The UN Human Rights Office has repeatedly raised concerns that IDF's evacuation orders are confusing, often instructing people to relocate to areas where IDF military operations are ongoing. We reiterate our call on Israel to take all efforts to ensure the safety of civilians in Gaza. Against this backdrop, the UN Human Rights Office is also deeply worried about the fast-deteriorating civil order throughout the Gaza Strip, which is having a significant negative impact on the protection of Palestinians in Gaza and on the humanitarian space. Source: National news agency - Lebanon