In a startling revelation, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced on Monday that 70% of the population in the Gaza Strip has been displaced, with the majority enduring horrific conditions in UN shelters. According to Tamara Al-Rifai, UNRWA’s Director of Strategic Communications, about 1.5 million people have been forcibly removed from their homes, which equates to a staggering 70% of Gaza’s residents now living away from their homes.
UNRWA’s press release on Monday detailed the widespread displacement throughout the Gaza Strip since October 7, noting that approximately half of the displaced individuals (717,000) are residing in 149 facilities operated by the agency across all five governorates of Gaza, including in the northern region.
Moreover, more than 557,000 displaced people are living in 92 facilities in the central areas, Khan Yunis, and Rafah. Initially, around 160,000 displaced individuals took shelter in 57 UNRWA schools in the northern and Gaza regions until the Israeli authorities issued an evacuation order. UNRWA expressed its inability to access these shelters to provide assistance or protection, and lacks information about their needs and conditions.
The conditions in these overcrowded UNRWA facilities are described as “inhumane and deteriorating,” with warnings of a potential public health crisis due to damage to water and sanitation infrastructure. The agency has recorded thousands of cases of acute respiratory infections, skin infections, diarrhea, and chickenpox among the sheltered population.
The decomposition of bodies under collapsed buildings amid limited rescue efforts is raising both humanitarian and environmental concerns. In one of the UNRWA facilities, Khan Yunis Training Centre, currently hosting more than 22,000 displaced people, the space available per person is less than two square meters, signaling extreme overcrowding.
The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, updating its figures on Monday, reported the death of 10,022 Palestinians, including 4,104 children, since the beginning of the war in Gaza. Meanwhile, Israeli authorities reported that Hamas’s attack on October 7 resulted in 1,400 deaths in Israel and more than 240 hostages taken.
This sobering situation in Gaza underscores the severity of the conflict’s impact on the civilian population, with the international community and humanitarian organizations like UNRWA urging for immediate action to alleviate the suffering and prevent a further descent into crisis. The necessity for comprehensive aid, protection, and a sustainable resolution has never been more critical as Gaza faces one of the worst humanitarian challenges in its recent history.
