The UN office said 41% of the Gaza Strip had received evacuation orders since December
Smoke from shelling rises in the background as displaced Palestinians leave Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on January 30, 2024. Credit: MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images
The Israeli military has ordered the evacuation of 41% of Gaza since it began dividing it into numbered blocs in December, the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday.
Since December, 1,158 square kilometers of Gaza, where 1.38 million people called home before Oct. 7, have been placed under such orders, the OHCA said. He added that there are 161 shelters in the area housing about 700,750 internally displaced people.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it has urged people to leave parts of Gaza to avoid fighting against Hamas.
On Monday, the Israeli army “persuaded” residents of al-Nassar, al-Sheikh Radwan, al-Shadi refugee camp, North and South Rimal, Sabra, al-Sheikh Ajlin and Tel al-Hawa in the west of Gaza City. to “designated shelters” south “for their safety”.
The new guideline covers an area of 12.43 square kilometers, equivalent to 3.4% of Gaza. The area was home to nearly 300,000 Palestinians before October 7 and housed 59 shelters, housing some 88,000 internally displaced people, according to OCHA.
Some background: As of January 26, there were an estimated 1.7 million internally displaced people in Gaza, OCHA said, citing UNRWA, as the ongoing fighting and subsequent evacuation orders forced some families to leave their initially registered shelters.
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