At least 60,000 Gazans possibly displaced after latest Israeli evacuation order: UN

Geneva: UN humanitarians and their partners estimated that at least 60,000 Gazans may have moved toward western Khan Younis following the latest Israeli evacuation order.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the latest evacuation order for residents in central and eastern parts of Khan Younis on Thursday followed two orders on Wednesday for people in parts of northern Gaza to evacuate, Xinhua news agency reported.

OCHA said that nearly 43 square kilometres of northern and southern Gaza were under evacuation orders this week.

"Initial tracking by our partners in Gaza say these areas include some 230 displacement sites; more than three dozen water, sanitation and hygiene facilities; and five functional health facilities, including the Indonesian Hospital," OCHA said. "More than 80 per cent of the Gaza Strip is now assessed as having been placed under evacuation orders since October of last year."

The office said the entry of aid supplies into Gaza remains challenging due to active hostilities, access constraints, high levels of insecurity, the lack of public order and safety and other factors.

"Amid these obstacles, the volume of aid able to be brought from the operational border crossings into Gaza has decreased by more than half since early May, when the Rafah crossing was closed," OCHA said. "It has gone from a daily average of 169 trucks in April to fewer than 80 trucks in June and July."

The humanitarians said that at the Kerem Shalom crossing, the decrease was even steeper over the past three months, with a more than 80 per cent drop in aid cargo brought into Gaza at that border crossing, from 127 trucks per day in April to fewer than two dozen each day in July.

OCHA said that humanitarian assistance missions requiring coordination with Israeli authorities continue to be denied and impeded. As of Thursday, just 24 of 67 planned aid missions to northern Gaza this month were facilitated by Israeli authorities. The rest were denied, impeded or cancelled due to security, logistical or operational reasons.

Out of nearly 100 planned humanitarian missions in southern Gaza, about half were facilitated by Israeli authorities, while the rest were denied, impeded, or cancelled, said the office.