83 percent of Gaza under evacuation orders or declared ‘no-go zones’: OCHA

Gaza (Quds News Network)- The Israeli occupation’s latest mass evacuation order for the southern city of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip covers about 8.7sq km (3.35sq miles) of territory and reduces the so-called al-Mawasi “humanitarian zone” by 15 percent of its original size, the UN reported on Monday.

As of Monday, almost 83 percent of the Gaza Strip is now under evacuation orders or designated as “no-go zones” by the Israeli military, the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

Those fleeing Khan Yunis – where at least 70 people were killed by Israeli forces and 200 others injured within minutes of issuing the evacuation order on Monday – appear to be heading towards Deir el-Balah and western areas of Khan Yunis.

Both areas are already heavily overcrowded, have limited shelters and services available, and can barely accommodate the additional influx of displaced people, OCHA noted.

The evacuation area in Khan Yunis encompasses areas already placed under evacuation orders on 1 July and newly designated areas, including 8.7 square kilometers in the eastern parts of the so-called “humanitarian zone” in Al Mawasi.

The area of the “humanitarian zone” as designated by the Israeli military has thus decreased by 14.8 per cent, from 58.9 to 50.2 square kilometers.

The UN body also reported that Gaza is “now surviving with only a fourth of the water” that previously supplied the Palestinian territory of more than 2 million people.