Around 1.9 million people, equivalent to more than 80% of the total population of the Gaza Strip, have been displaced since the start of the war between Hamas and Israel, the United Nations Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA) said in this report. Monday (4).
Displaced people are people who have moved within their own country for the same reasons as a refugee, but who have not crossed an international border to seek protection.
Of this amount, almost 1.2 million people are sheltering in 156 UNRWA facilities across the Gaza Strip. The vast majority, almost a million people, are sheltering in facilities in the center and south of the territory, in places such as Khan Younis and Rafah.
“The average number of internally displaced people in UNRWA shelters is 10,326, more than four times its capacity,” the agency said.
Thomas White, director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, stressed that “another wave of displacement” is occurring and that the humanitarian situation is worsening as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) intensify operations in southern Gaza, including in Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been displaced.
“People are begging for advice on where to find safety. We have nothing to say to them,” White said on X, formerly Twitter.
“The roads leading south towards Rafah are ‘clogged’ with cars and donkey carts packed with people and their meager possessions,” he added.
The UN agency noted that 218 internally displaced people were killed and 901 injured while taking refuge in UNRWA facilities. The organization also stated that 111 of its employees have been killed since October 7.
On December 2, the agency “was able to verify that 117 incidents had occurred at 85 UNRWA installations since the start of the war; 30 facilities were directly hit and 55 suffered collateral damage. Furthermore, UNRWA has received reports of the military using its facilities,” the organization said.
Between 20 November and 2 December, 9 of 22 UNRWA health centers were operational in central and southern Gaza, where 284 health professionals cared for more than 30,000 patients.
Source: CNN Brasil
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