More than half a million Palestinians have been displaced in recent days by escalating military operations in southern and northern Gaza, the United Nations said Tuesday.
Around 450,000 Palestinians were expelled from Rafah, on the southern edge of the Strip, in the last week, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said. Before the start of Israeli operations in the city, which it claims is Hamas’s last stronghold, around 1.3 million people were sheltered there.
Israeli forces were also fighting insurgents in the north, where the army had focused its operations at the start of the war. Evacuation orders issued by the military on Saturday have so far displaced about 100,000 people, UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters on Monday.
According to Palestinian officials, Israeli attacks on the central area of the besieged enclave claimed the lives of at least 12 people overnight and early Tuesday.
The Civil Defense explained that its emergency personnel recovered eight bodies from the remains of a razed three-story house in the Nuseirat refugee camp. Four of the deceased, including two men in their 60s and two women, were taken to a nearby hospital.
Another attack hit a caravan used by Hamas-run police at a school converted into a shelter in Nuseirat, killing at least four officers.
The nearby Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital recorded the deaths.
A total of 82 people killed by Israeli fire were transferred to hospitals in the Strip in the last 24 hours, in addition to 234 wounded, according to data from the Gaza Ministry of Health.
In the last week, no food has entered through the border crossings in the south of the territory. Around 1.1 million Palestinians in Gaza face catastrophic levels of hunger and are on the verge of starvation, and in the north the situation is one of “total famine”, according to the UN.
The war began on October 7, when Hamas launched a raid on southern Israel in which it killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 more hostage. According to Israel, the insurgents are holding around a hundred people, in addition to the remains of more than 30 others.
The Israeli aerial bombardment campaign and ground operations over the past seven months in the Palestinian territory have claimed the lives of more than 35,100 people, mostly women and children, according to data from local health authorities.
Separately, Human Rights Watch said Israel has carried out at least eight attacks against aid workers and their convoys, killing at least 15 people — including two minors — since the start of the war.
The New York-based human rights group explained in a report published Tuesday that, in all cases, the humanitarian groups had provided their coordinates to Israeli authorities to ensure their safety, and they received no warning. before incidents that left at least 16 injured.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says more than 250 aid workers have died in the enclave since the start of the war, mostly local employees of the Palestinian refugee agency, the main aid provider in the territory. .
The Israeli military said it opened an investigation after a member of a UN security team was killed while driving through Rafah on Monday. According to him, the shooting occurred in an “active combat zone” and the route of the vehicle had not been reported.
The United Nations indicated that one of its international workers was killed and another was injured when their vehicle, clearly marked with the institution’s initials, was attacked. He did not say who was responsible or reveal the nationalities of the workers.
HRW said the eight incidents it documented “reveal fundamental flaws with the so-called deconfliction system, designed to protect aid workers and allow them to safely deliver vital humanitarian aid in Gaza.”
Belkis Wille, deputy director of crises, conflicts and weapons at HRW, said that “Israel’s allies have to recognize that these attacks that have killed humanitarian workers have happened again and again, and they must stop.”
Israel came under harsh criticism last month after a series of attacks that killed seven aid workers from the NGO World Central Kitchen, founded by celebrity chef José Andrés.
Israel acknowledged that its forces had made a mistake in that case. He later announced the dismissal of two officers and the reprimanding of three others for errors in the management of critical information and violation of the army’s rules of engagement.
Humanitarian organizations say their ability to provide life-saving assistance to Gaza’s 2.3 million residents has been hampered by Israeli restrictions, ongoing fighting and difficulty coordinating their movements with the military.
Human Rights Watch said Israel did not respond to a request for information about the attacks sent on May 1. The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
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