The United Nations has once again emphasized the severe plight of recurring displacement affecting Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, who are enduring a relentless and devastating Israeli offensive.
Andrea De Domenico, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, remarked on Wednesday, "People in the last nine months have been moved around like pawns in a board game, forced from one location to the next."
De Domenico reported that an estimated nine out of every ten people in the Gaza Strip have been internally displaced at least once, and some up to ten times since October. The Israeli regime has been waging war on Gaza since October 7, following Al-Aqsa Storm, a retaliatory operation by Gaza’s resistance movements that resulted in hundreds of captives.
The conflict has so far claimed nearly 38,000 Palestinian lives, the majority being women, children, and adolescents. Residents are compelled to rebuild their lives under increasingly challenging conditions, exacerbating their suffering and amplifying the need for humanitarian aid, De Domenico added.
The most recent evacuation order from the Israeli regime, targeting the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, has affected a third of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents.
De Domenico highlighted the persistent fear among Palestinians, fueled by memories of Israeli attacks on hospitals such as al-Shifa and Nasser, where doctors, patients, and nurses were arrested and interrogated, with some later found in mass graves. "People have the memories of what has happened at al-Shifa, Nasser, and other hospitals…where doctors, patients, and nurses were arrested, interrogated. Some of them then were found days after in mass graves. So, fear is dominant," he said.
During the conflict, the Israeli regime has killed as many as 247 UN staff members across Gaza. De Domenico stressed the urgent need to halt the violence, asserting, "We really need to draw a line of enough."
This ongoing conflict has seen virtually every Palestinian in Gaza displaced multiple times since October 7, underscoring the dire humanitarian crisis in the region.
