Israel places over 80% of Gaza under evacuation orders or ‘no-go zones’

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory says the Israeli military has ordered the evacuation of, or designated as “no-go zones” more than 80% of the besieged Gaza Strip.

“As of July 22, nearly 83 percent of the Gaza Strip has been placed under evacuation orders or designated as ‘no-go zones’ by the Israeli military,” OCHA oPt said in an update issued on Monday on the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

The latest order, according to the report, was issued on Monday when the Israeli military ordered Palestinians residing in eastern and central Khan Yunis to immediately evacuate westwards.

The order covers about 8.7 square kilometers in the so-called “humanitarian zone” in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis.

“The area of the ‘humanitarian zone’ as designated by the Israeli military has thus decreased by 14.8 percent, from 58.9 to 50.2 square kilometers,” the report said.

It noted that Israel’s repeated evacuation orders and strikes continue to “further devastate Gaza’s health system and make it increasingly difficult for repeatedly displaced populations to access essential services, particularly people suffering from chronic diseases.”

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

Tel Aviv has also blocked water, food, and electricity to Gaza, plunging the coastal strip into a humanitarian crisis.

Since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 39,006 Palestinians and injured over 89,818. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.

The UN had earlier warned that Israel’s Gaza evacuation orders would only fuel mass suffering for Palestinian families, many of whom have been displaced again and again,