Most people across the Gaza Strip, already displaced multiple times, are often forced to flee amid intense bombardment.
UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- UN humanitarians said on Friday that Israelis have ordered more relocating in besieged North Gaza because of impending attacks in retaliation for rocket fire into Israel.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the latest directive was for civilians in the Al-Bureij area of Deir al Balah governorate to move west.
OCHA said the newest evacuation order came as Israeli authorities continued to deny United Nations attempts to coordinate the safe movement of humanitarian workers.
"Today (Friday), 6 out of 10 coordination attempts were outright rejected," the office said. "Of the remaining four, only two went ahead fully, while the other two encountered serious impediments. Among the rejected attempts today was our plan to deliver supplies to the besieged areas of North Gaza governorate."
Most people across the Gaza Strip, already displaced multiple times, are often forced to flee amid intense bombardment with almost none of their belongings into unsafe areas that lack the basics for human survival.
"Amid this situation, humanitarian organizations are doing everything they possibly can to support people in wherever they are," the office said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 55 patients and 72 companions were evacuated from Gaza on Tuesday for medical treatment in the United Arab Emirates. Since October 2023, more than 5,300 patients have been evacuated abroad, while over 12,000 patients are awaiting evacuation.
"It would take 5-10 years to evacuate all these critically ill patients, including thousands of children," said WHO Director-Genera Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on social media platform X. "In the meantime, their conditions get worse and some die."
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said that despite the Israeli bill to ban the agency from operating in the Occupied Palestinian Territory due to come into effect in less than four weeks, UNRWA's teams are committed to stay and deliver.
He said on X that since the conflict erupted in October 2023, UNRWA has provided 6.7 million medical consultations in Gaza or more than 1,600 consultations per day. Some 730,000 people have received mental health and psychosocial support thanks to UNRWA. And, with partners, the agency vaccinated 560,000 children under 10 against polio.
Lazzarini added that nearly 2 million people received food assistance, hundreds of thousands of displaced people stayed in UNRWA shelters. Since the summer, UNRWA's teams have reached 18,000 children with learning activities.
"We stress once again that UNRWA is the backbone of the humanitarian response and is irreplaceable," OCHA said. "A collapse of its operations, should the new legislation take effect, would lead to immense suffering for people already enduring extreme hardship."
When asked about the possibility that UNRWA would have to cease operations, Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters at a regular briefing, "The secretary-general has made very clear that under international law, if UNRWA is not able to go about its mandated tasks, Israel as the occupying power would have to take on those responsibilities." ■
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