In August alone, 250,000 residents of the Gaza Strip were once again forced to relocate due to transfer orders from Israeli forces (IDF), engaged in military operations against Hamas in the Palestinian enclave since the attack on Israel on October 7 of last year. This has been denounced by the United Nations. Since October, 90% of the Strip's inhabitants have had to deal with military orders.
Since the beginning of the month, there have been 12 evacuation orders from areas of the Strip, forcing about 250,000 people to move, according to data provided by Muhannad Hadi, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. Transfer orders that arrive on average every other day and that this week, he remarked, have forced tens of thousands of civilians from four areas of Deir al-Balah and Khan Yunis to move. The directives also have an impact on various United Nations agencies and NGOs.
"While the transfer orders are aimed at protecting civilians, the reality is that they are having the opposite effect: they are forcing families to flee again, often under fire and with the few belongings they can carry, to an area that is increasingly shrinking, overcrowded, contaminated, with limited services, and unsafe like the rest of Gaza," he denounced.
"In Deir Al-Balah, the water supply has decreased by at least 70% due to the shutdown of water pumps and desalination plants," he added. "A severe shortage of chlorine for water disinfection, with reserves expected to last another month, is fueling the spread of diseases, skin infections, hepatitis A, and now even polio. Civilians are exhausted and terrified, running from one place to another." And "it cannot go on like this."
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