1.7mn displaced to other areas of Gaza due to Israel’s Rafah military operation: UN

The UN humanitarian mission in the Gaza Strip announced the Israeli assault on Rafah has forced nearly 2 million refugees to flee once again.

“Thousands of families have been forced to flee due to Israeli military operations,” the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said in a statement.

“An estimated 1.7 million people have been displaced to Khan Younis and central areas of the Gaza Strip.”

UNRWA added that all 36 shelters in Rafah where people sought refuge are now empty.

The Israeli military has forcibly displaced over one million Palestinians from Rafah after expanding its aerial and ground attacks there last month, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

In a post on social media platform X, UNRWA said thousands of families are now taking shelter in damaged and destroyed facilities in Khan Younis, a city north of Rafah that was heavily bombed between January and April.

“Conditions are unspeakable,” UNRWA added.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini also stressed that the agency has had to suspend medical and other essential services in Rafah due to the ongoing hostilities.

The agency noted that the humanitarian space “continues to shrink”.

Earlier, Lazzarini stated Israel was delegitimizing the UN agency and threatening the work of its staff.

Eight months into the war, women and girls continue to struggle to meet their basic health needs, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

Pushed into overcrowded shelters, some 690,000 of them lack menstrual hygiene kits, clean water, and privacy, the agency said, adding without access to sanitary pads, women and girls are forced to use makeshift arrangements that put them at risk of infections.

More than 36,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its onslaught nearly eight months ago. The majority of those killed have been women and children, with over 82,600 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid Israel’s crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.