Israeli army evacuation orders have forced around 250,000 Palestinian civilians to flee their neighborhoods in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, local authorities said on Monday.
The army demanded Palestinians evacuate an area east of Deir al-Balah on Sunday that was previously designated as a “humanitarian area” by the military, reported the Anadolu news agency.
The evacuation orders “have caused the forced displacement of about 250,000 people and put 25 shelters out of service,” Gaza’s municipal office said in a statement.
It has “created a new tragedy and deepened the suffering of the people of Deir al-Balah,” the statement added.
The al-Aqsa hospital is close to empty after patients were relocated, reported the Quds News Network. Premature infants have also been evacuated, driven by fears of abandonment and death. This is due to recent invasions of Gaza hospitals where Israeli soldiers forced doctors to leave and left dozens of infants to die, the report said.
Half of Population
The city was home to around half of Gaza’s population, according to the office, and four new water wells were forced out of service due to Israeli attacks in the area.
“The number of non-operational wells has reached 14, which used to supply water to about 70% of the city’s population,” it said, warning that the situation “will exacerbate the residents’ conditions and make it difficult for them to access water.”
The evacuation orders also “threaten a main water reservoir in the city, which is the only remaining reservoir after two others went out of service due to Israeli attacks.”
No Basic Services
Last week, United Nations spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric warned of the dangers posed by Israeli evacuation orders on residents and displaced civilians in Gaza.
According to UN data, nine out of every 10 people living in Gaza have been forced to flee due to Israeli attacks.
He said, “Our colleagues from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warn that repeated waves of displacement — combined with overcrowding, insecurity, crumbling infrastructure, active hostilities and limited services — is worsening the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which is already catastrophic.”
Dujarric warned that “the ongoing hostilities, constant evacuation orders, and severe shortages of essential supplies are making it increasingly difficult” for displaced families to access basic services at their place of arrival.
Gaza’s government media office said last week that the Israeli army was confining approximately 1.7 million displaced Palestinians into a cramped space that does not exceed one-tenth of the total area of the enclave.
Staggering Death Toll
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 40,405 Palestinians have been killed, and 93,468 wounded. Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.