The United Nations says 86 percent of the besieged Gaza Strip is now under Israeli evacuation orders, as 33 more Palestinians were killed in another day of attacks and displacement.
Thousands of Palestinians fled the Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps in central Gaza on Monday after the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders.
“We were displaced from the north. They told us, ‘Go to the centre of Gaza, then to Rafah.’ We went to Rafah, then went up to Nuseirat. We were stuck. Then we were ordered to move further south, to al-Mawasi,” Mohammed Naserallah, a displaced Palestinian, told Tel Aviv Tribune.
“Our life is in pieces. We have nothing, no one, except God.”
Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said 86 percent of the besieged enclave is under evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military.
Kahder Baroud, a blind Palestinian wearing dark sunglasses, said he received a call from the Israeli army asking him to leave his home in Nuseirat on Sunday.
“We are already struggling with our situation, because my daughters and sons are also blind. (…) We are living in fear, in frightening conditions. We left the house today (Monday), but we don’t know where we can go now,” he said.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s Hani Mahmoud reports from Deir el-Balah, also in central Gaza, that recurring mass displacement has become the norm with the Israeli military.
“The majority of the displaced population is flocking to the city of Deir el-Balah, which is already overcrowded with displaced families and does not have enough space or resources to accommodate people,” he said.
In addition, schools converted into shelters for displaced people have been targeted.
“The attacks on schools over the past two days have destroyed any sense of security for those sheltering in evacuation centers and have pushed people further into the interior of the country. There is literally no safe place in Gaza,” he said.
Meanwhile, at least three people were killed and others injured when the Israeli army again shelled al-Mawasi, an area in southern Gaza previously declared a “safe zone” by Israel.
Gaza officials said 33 Palestinians were killed in the enclave on Monday, bringing the total number of deaths since October to 39,363 and more than 90,000 others injured.
An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel in the Hamas attacks on October 7, and more than 200 were taken prisoner.
“Polio endemic area”
The relentless Israeli offensive has also worsened the health emergency in Gaza, with its health ministry declaring it a “polio-endemic area” on Monday.
In a statement on Telegram, the ministry said the situation “poses a health threat to the residents of Gaza and neighboring countries.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) has also confirmed the spread of the deadly polio virus by detecting it in sewage samples. Drinking water supplies, already limited in the densely populated Gaza Strip, are at risk of being contaminated by the virus.
“This is just the beginning of the wave of disease that the Gaza Strip will face,” Tel Aviv Tribune’s Hind Khoudary said from Deir-el Balah.
“Palestinians live in makeshift tents with no bathrooms, no hygiene, no access to water or sanitation. Sewage is everywhere,” she said.
On Friday, the WHO announced it would send more than a million polio vaccines to Gaza, which will be administered in the coming weeks to prevent children from becoming infected.
The Israeli military also said it would begin offering the polio vaccine to soldiers in Gaza.
Also on Monday, Israel and Hamas criticized each other for the lack of progress in reaching a ceasefire agreement and the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip, despite international mediation.
Hamas has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of adding new conditions and demands to a US-backed truce proposal.
Netanyahu, however, denied making any changes and said it was Hamas that insisted on many changes to the original proposal.
