Evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military have hit the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps, forcing families to relocate “repeatedly, knowing that safety does not exist in the Gaza Strip”, the UN agency assisting Palestinian refugees said. UNRWAin a post on X.
More than nine months after the war in Gaza, Only 14 percent of the area is not affected by the evacuation order., speak UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini.
“People are typically given just a few hours to pack up whatever they can and start all over again, mostly on foot or in a crowded donkey cart for those who can afford it,” he said. “Almost everyone in Gaza has been affected by these orders. Many have been forced to flee on average once a month since the war began nine months ago.”
Water plant destroyed
In a related development, the UN agency condemned the destruction of a water plant in Rafah, southern Gaza, the focus of Israeli military operations since early May.
“Anytime something happens – like what appears to have happened in Rafah over the weekend, with a water plant being destroyed – that affects our ability to get water,” said Scott Anderson, the UN’s deputy humanitarian coordinator and director of UNRWA’s Gaza operations. He noted that the UN agency cannot independently assess the situation.
Uprooted – again
Recalling the testimonies of forcibly displaced people among those supported by UNRWA, Mr. Anderson recounted how a woman with twins explained the chaos of the upheaval: “She said, well, basically, each child had one arm and a little backpack, you know, and they set out to try to find safety.”
According to UNRWA, evacuation orders are now being issued “every other day”, while the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, reported on Friday Humanitarian partners estimate that more than 190,000 Palestinians have been displaced in the past week in Khan Younis and Deir al Balah, since evacuation orders were issued seven days ago.
The deadly consequences of aid obstructions
Recent evacuation orders and heavy fighting continue ARRIVE destabilizing relief operations and hindering efforts to deliver vital aid to people in Khan Younis, OCHA emphasized.
The report asserts that ongoing unrest and the designation of “only one entry point for humanitarian workers into and out of Gaza – the Kerem Shalom crossing – has hampered efforts to deploy additional emergency medical teams in Gaza” – despite These workers are essential. to help support the “Local medical staff “exhausted”.
“I met a mother and a child, a two-month-old baby who was starving and the mother did not have enough nutrition to produce milk and feed the child,” Mr. Anderson said in an interview with United Nations News.
“When you have severe malnutrition or acute malnutrition, you can’t just breastfeed or eat and the baby will recover,” he explains. “You know, it’s almost impossible for a mother to start breastfeeding again… And They look at you and say, ‘What can you do to help me?‘
Learn to increase bids
The latest UN data shows that 93 percent of Gaza’s schools have been damaged, with many having been directly hit. A third of the schools affected are UNRWA schools, which employ some 14,000 teachers who once taught some 370,000 students.
To help the hundreds of thousands of children currently out of school in the region, UNRWA and the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEFplans to offer enhanced education starting Thursday, August 1.
“We will try to get all 600,000 children who should be in school back in some kind of learning environment,” “Hopefully this is the beginning of a process of rebuilding Gaza into a better place than it was before October 7th and giving people, you know, the opportunity to continue to live with dignity,” Anderson said.
“It’s incredible to see people still smiling, you see them trying to get on with their lives or have some entrepreneurial spirit,” he added.
