The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stated Monday that it has received initial reports that families in Gaza are starting to flee toward Deir al Balah and western Khan Younis, following new evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military.
“Both areas are already heavily overcrowded, with limited services and shelter spaces available,” the UN Secretary General Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a press briefing.
“Today’s evacuation directive includes areas located in the eastern part of what had been designated by the Israeli military as a so-called humanitarian zone,” Dujarric said.
He added that the OCHA staff say that frequent evacuation orders and relentless hostilities are further devastating Gaza’s health system “making it increasingly difficult for people who have been repeatedly displaced to access essential services.
“The Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis has issued a new call for people to donate blood, with reports that the facility has received dozens of casualties
today alone,” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, OCHA warned that humanitarian workers in Gaza continue to face enormous risks, including to their personal safety.
“As you may have seen yesterday a convoy of our UNRWA colleagues was shot at by Israeli forces as they were heading north to Gaza City,” Dujarric said.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA said there were no casualties, but UNRWA’s teams had to duck and take cover.
He noted that they had been traveling in clearly marked UN armored vehicles and were wearing UN vests.
Lazzarini said that one vehicle was severely damaged while waiting just ahead of the Israeli forces’ checkpoint south of Wadi Gaza.
He said the convoy’s movement was coordinated with the Israeli authorities “and that those responsible for yesterday’s incident must be held to account”.
The spokesman added that humanitarian partners in Gaza report that people in Gaza continue to face severe water shortages.
“Between July 8th and 21st of this month, the daily average water supply was abou
t 90,000 cubic metres about a quarter of the amount produced prior to October of last year,” he indicated.
“Damage to infrastructure, the lack of electricity, and shortages of fuel, spare parts and chlorine continue to hamper water production and purification, as well as sewage pumping.” On the situation in the West Bank, UNICEF reported today that on average, one Palestinian child has been killed every two days in the West Bank including East Jerusalem since October of last year. UNICEF says that 143 Palestinian children have been killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since October, a spike of nearly 250 percent compared to the preceding nine months.
Source: Kuwait News Agency