UN warns against Israeli evacuation orders in Deir al Balah
NEW YORK (WAM) An Israeli military order for residents and displaced people in Gaza's Deir al Balah area to move south dealt 'another devastating blow' to humanitarian efforts in the war-ravaged territory, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Sunday.OCHA warned that Sunday's mass displacement order issued by the Israeli military has dealt yet another devastating blow to the already fragile lifelines keeping people alive across the Gaza Strip. The order covers about 5.6 square kilometres of Deir al Balah, spanning four neighbourhoods.Initial estimates indicated that between 50,000 and 80,000 people were in the area at the time the order was issued, including some 30,000 people sheltering in 57 displacement sites.At least 1,000 families have fled the area in recent hours.UN staff are remaining in Deir al Balah, spread across dozens of premises. Their coordinates have been shared with the relevant parties. These locations – as with all civilian sites – must be protected, regardless of displacement orders.The newly-designated area includes several humanitarian warehouses, four primary health clinics, four medical points, and critical water infrastructure: the Southern Gaza Desalination Plant, three water wells, one water reservoir, one solid waste dumping site and one wastewater pumping station. Any damage to this infrastructure will have life-threatening consequences.The statement added, "With this latest order, the area of Gaza under displacement orders or within Israeli-militarised zones has risen to 87.8 percent, leaving 2.1 million civilians squeezed into a fragmented 12 percent of the Strip, where essential services have collapsed."
"The new order cuts through Deir al Balah all the way to the Mediterranean Sea, further splintering the Strip. It will limit the ability of the UN and our partners to move safely and effectively within Gaza, choking humanitarian access when it is needed most."
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