UN Warns Of Humanitarian Disasters In Gaza Exacerbated Due To A Wave Of Refugees

Children are refugees of Gaza. (Source: UNRWA)

JAKARTA - The United Nations (OCHA) Humanitarian Affairs Coordination Office warned that the humanitarian disaster situation in the Gaza Strip was deteriorating due to a wave of evacuations, population density, insecurity, collapsed infrastructure, continuing war, and limited services.

According to humanitarian workers in Gaza, the latest Israeli evacuation order issued last Saturday affected about 13,500 people displaced in 18 locations, covering the entire area of the Maghazi camp and several other neighborhoods in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip.

The ongoing war, evacuation orders and severe supply shortages make it increasingly difficult for families displaced to access basic services at the locations they visit, OCHA said, as reported by WAFA Aug. 21.

Since October, 86 percent of the Gaza Strip region has been under evacuation orders, with the majority of Gaza's population increasingly concentrated in areas designated by occupation authorities in Al-Mawasi.

According to OCHA, the population density in the region has increased to between 33 and 34 thousand people per square kilometer, compared to about 200 people before October last year.

Severe fuel shortages forced hospitals to delay critical operations and threatened to halt ambulance work, particularly in northern Gaza, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Separately, Gaza's medical authorities confirmed on Tuesday that the death toll of Palestinians as a result of the Israeli retaliation has so far killed 40,173 civilians and injured 92,857 others.