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The UN on Thursday said Israeli military displacement orders have forced more than 640,000 Palestinians to flee in the Gaza Strip since March, warning that nearly one-third of the population is under repeated evacuation orders, Anadolu reports.
Citing the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said, “Yesterday, Israeli authorities issued another displacement order.”
“This time covering 54 neighborhoods across three governors — North Gaza, Gaza and Deir el Bala. This is the second order issued for the same area representing one-third of the Gaza Strip,” he said.
Saying that “since the renewed escalation of hostilities in March, the Israeli military issued 35 displacement orders,” Dujarric indicated that the Israeli orders forced “more than 640,000 people to flee again.
“That’s almost every third Palestinian in Gaza,” he added.
Dujarric raised the alarm about the worsening humanitarian situation, citing Israeli restrictions on aid access.
READ: 3 Palestinian journalists killed in Israeli strike on Gaza hospital courtyard
“Yesterday, Israeli authorities continued to deny humanitarian movements that required coordination,” he said, adding that “out of the 16 attempted attempts to coordinate such movements, five were rejected, including trucking water, retrieval of nutrition supplies and relocating fuel stocks.”
Six additional missions were not completed “either because of impediments or because organizers had to cancel them,” while only five were successfully carried out.
He added that the limited missions allowed aid workers “to screen children for malnutrition, provide medical services and carry out assessments,” but noted that “none of them involve the delivery of supplies, which are so desperately needed.”
Warning that “supplies continue to dwindle,” Dujarric reported that half of Gaza’s community kitchens are now closed because of displacement or shortages, and emphasized that what is currently entering Gaza “is merely a trickle.”
The Israeli army resumed its assaults on the enclave on March 18 and has since killed 4,402 victims and injured nearly 13,490, shattering a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
READ: Lives of 50,000 pregnant, nursing women at risk in Gaza
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