1.4mn Gazans internally displaced: UN

“About 1.4 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) are estimated in Gaza,” the Office said.

More than 544,000 individuals are now in emergency shelters “in increasingly dire conditions,” it added.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also reported at least 30% of the housing sector in the Gaza Strip has been either destroyed or rendered uninhabitable, while hospitals are overwhelmed with patients.

“Since 7 October, at least 30 per cent of all housing units in the Gaza Strip have been either destroyed, rendered uninhabitable, or damaged,” the Office said, referring to data from the Ministry of Housing in Gaza.

“Hospitals are on the brink and overcrowded with patients, many awaiting treatment,” the OCHA added.

It expressed concern “that 9,000 cancer patients lack adequate care because of conditions in Gaza’s only chemotherapy hospital.”

Hundreds of people including children have been trapped beneath the rubble amid airstrikes in Gaza.

“Rescue teams, primarily from the Palestinian Civil Defense, are struggling to carry out their mission amid continuous airstrikes, severe shortages of fuel to run vehicles and equipment, and with limited or no connection to mobile networks,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stressed.

Meanwhile, Gaza has now been under full electricity blackout for 10 days, it went on to say.

The latest escalation between Hamas and Israel began on October 7, when the Palestinian fighters launched a surprise attack on multiple locations along the Gaza border in response to Israel’s repeated aggression against Palestinians and desecration of the al-Aqsa Mosque.

Israeli officials estimate that more than 1,400 people have been killed in the Hamas assault and over 4,000 have been wounded.

Israeli massive air strikes on the densely-populated Gaza Strip, has so far killed almost 4,000 people.