UN: Israel forcibly displaced 250,000 Gazans in August

Israeli occupation forces have ordered the forced displacement of 250,000 Palestinians in Gaza so far this month, UN OCHA said yesterday.

“During August alone, Israeli forces have issued 12 evacuation orders, forcing almost 250,000 people to move yet again,” the humanitarian body in a post on X.

The post went on to highlight a statement by Muhannad Hadi, humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian Territory, in which he said: “Successive mass evacuation orders issued by Israeli forces amid hostilities have displaced 90 per cent of Gaza’s residents since October 2023, often multiple times, exposing them to harm and depriving them of the essentials to survive.”

If evacuation orders are meant to protect civilians, the fact is that they are leading to the exact opposite.

“They are forcing families to flee again, often under fire and with the few belongings they can carry with them, into an ever-shrinking area that is overcrowded, polluted, with limited services and – like the rest of Gaza – unsafe,” he continued.

“Civilians are exhausted and terrified, running from one destroyed place to another, with no end in sight.”

He added that the water supply in Deir Al-Balah, an area Israel has been forcing Palestinians to move to, “has decreased by at least 70 per cent” as pumps and desalination plants have shut down. While a chlorine shortage for water disinfection “is fueling disease, skin infections, hepatitis A and now polio,” he warned.

“This cannot continue,” he concluded, urging for international law to be respected.

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